Good Ol' Days
by DemonIncarnate - Ahahaha
Summary: An encounter with some Foot ninja costs Donnie his life. His brothers, on the other hand, get depressed and have their shells handed to them by the Foot. Luckily, they were saved by a mysterious figure. Who is this mysterious figure, you ask? Hint: He wears a purple bandanna mask. Rated for blood, character death and Japanese vocab. Title from The Script's song of the same title.
1. Lose And Gain

**Disclaimer: I do not on TMNT 2012.**

Donnie died. And it was Leo's fault.

Or that was what the blue-masked turtle thought.

It was on one cloudy night and the four of them were doing their regular patrol around New York. They were taking their time, doing some somersaults and flips as they jumped from building to building, when they had a fateful encounter with a group of Foot ninja.

The turtles were practically outnumbered. Sure, the enemies were only like drones in comparison but the ratio was down to five to one, and being just teenagers, the result had gone from bad to worse. The fight started abruptly, metal clanging against metal. Taking advantage of their distance, some of the Foot started throwing shuriken at the turtles who moved about to dodge the deadly volley. Unfortunately for Leonardo, one enemy had used his spear to trip him and this sent the eldest of the four directly into the line of fire.

And then, that was when Donatello had to interfere.

There was a blur of green, brown and purple and Leonardo found himself staring into his brother's burgundy eyes before the purple-masked turtle collapsed into his arms, his carapace bombarded with the Foot's throwing stars. Most of them had just pierced the surface, only centimeters through his shell. But as for the other few, they bore in deeply, about two inches or so.

In panic, Leo fell to his knees with his unconscious brother still in his arms. He called out his name several times over, only to be answered with an uncomfortable silence. At the sight of this, Michelangelo rushed to his side, dropping his weapons as he ran, while Raphael sunk into a fit of pure rage and managed to drive off the remaining enemies. Afterwards, he was the one who carried Donnie back to the lair.

Master Splinter had immediately come to them when he saw them enter and carefully took Donatello from Raph. His adoptive son felt cold in his arms and the old rat began to fear the worst. He set the turtle on the couch and with tweezers and skilled precision, started to cautiously remove the shuriken, starting with the ones that penetrated superficially. Not wanting to be a disturbance, or even watch, for that matter, the other three turtles went to the kitchen where they wished for their brother's survival.

After what felt like hours of waiting and hoping, they heard a loud thud and they ran to the living room. There, they saw their Sensei and father seated on the floor, amidst scattered shuriken, some with bloodied tips, and his jade staff lying right next to him. He had his face in his hands as he sobbed and sobbed. Fear struck them and they came to their unmoving brother resting on his plastron on the couch.

It was Raph who tried to shake Donnie awake, ever so gently at first. That was when Leo checked for the second youngest's pulse. There was no throbbing against his fingers and the leader confronted his brothers and slowly shook his head. Tears welled up in Mikey's eyes and the orange-masked turtle dropped to his knees and embraced Master Splinter as he began to cry. Not wanting to accept the fact that his brother was gone, Raphael shook Donatello's body violently, yelling and spouting threats that he said the brainiac would receive when he wouldn't wake up. Leonardo had to pull him away, his heart aching when he heard those threats turn into whimpering pleas to not die. He looked at Donnie's corpse on the couch before burying his face into his red-masked brother's shell, both of them also weeping.

The next day, April came teary-eyed to witness the solemn ceremony. With the torch in his right hand and a heavy heart, Master Splinter set his late son's casket ablaze and as it burned, Leo, Raph and Mikey pushed it into the sewage water. The five of them watched sadly as the makeshift coffin drifted in the canal and out of sight, just a tiny fiery speck in the distance.

And now, here he was, Leonardo, the eldest of three of the four ninja turtles left. He blamed himself for Donnie's death, saying that he wasn't alert and quick enough to regain his footing on the night of the incident. If it weren't for his carelessness, the brainiac would still be around, smiling his tooth-gapped smile as he worked his machines and blabbered about a scientific discovery he had just made. They all missed his geeky presence and warmth and several days passed by without them conversing with each other. Even the talkative Mikey was silent, spending most of his time alone in his room.

Seeing his remaining sons so depressed, Master Splinter ordered them to go on a night patrol, hoping that this would clear their heads a bit. Little did he know that it would cause them to cross paths with an unwanted figure and make things more complicated .

That night, as the turtles leaped from roof to roof, they were yet again ambushed by the ever so redundant Foot ninja. Like the last time, they were more than what the teenaged mutants could handle and with their lack of focus and spunky energy, the three were instantly out of the game.

'_Face it, Leo,'_ the katana wielder thought to himself as the enemies loomed in closer on them, _'you're such a failure. You can never protect your family.'_

One Foot ninja raised his blade at them. The turtles could only move closer to one another.

'_Never…'_

The Foot was prepared to bring down the final blow. Leonardo closed his eyes.

'_Ever…'_

"What the – "

There was crash here and an alarmed scream there. The blue-masked turtle's eyes shot open, taking in the confusion before him.

A figure was moving about, taking out the Foot ninja with swift yet lethal strikes. He was shadowed by the clouds that blocked the moonlight, hiding his identity. His movements were fluid as he swung about what seemed to be a long stick, bringing pain to the enemies from a distance.

His presence stunned the turtles who could only watch in awe. In a minute, all twelve Foot ninja were down with the mysterious attacker triumphantly standing in the middle. He eased up his battle stance and looked at the three with white, emotionless eyes.

"Huh? Only you three left?" The figure said, an unimpressed tone in his familiar voice. "Your brother must be a real weakling."

The clouds parted and gave way for the full moon's silver beam to shine on them all. The identity of the figure was immediately revealed and it was what the turtles never expected. The mere sight of the purple bandanna mask he wore stirred unwelcome memories.

It was Donatello. In the flesh.

**A/N**

**Yo! DemonIncarnate – Ahahaha here!**

**Got stucked up with my Gintama fic and I apologize my readers for that *bows down low*. Dunno if I'd be able to continue it though…**

**Anyways…**

**This is my first TMNT 2012 fanfic, so sorry for its simplicity and weird storyline and all. The show practically dragged me away from my anime addiction a bit, especially since it's a reboot of the old shows. Not mention that it reawakened my old childhood crush on Donnie *giggles like a fangirl*. To make it short, TMNT is my favorite cartoon of all time. I even wanted to go to New York City when I was little just because I thought there REALLY were ninja turtles in the sewers there!**

**I know, kinda embarrassing *blushes*.**

**Right so…hope I tickled your curiosity with my fanfic!**


	2. Brother From Another Dimension?

**Disclaimer: I do not own TMNT 2012.**

It was Donnie, alright. Except he seemed different.

His olive green skin had all kinds of scars. Even his shell was tarnished, his carapace heavily marred with nicks and scratches and lengthy gashes and his plastron sporting an extensive mark that slanted from its top left to its bottom right. His bo-staff was as damaged as his outer appearance and there were more of those bandages wrapped around his hands, forearms and shins. His bandanna mask was torn, ragged and long enough to almost reach the middle of his back. Behind the purple band of cloth were burgundy eyes, no longer cheery and youthful but hard and sharp, as if their owner had lived through the worst of times.

"No…it can't be," Leonardo muttered in disbelief as he placed his katana back into their sheaths. "Donnie…we saw you die and – "

"Hey, let me explain first, would ya?" Donatello snapped, his voice suddenly sounding far too mature for him, even with his evident tooth-gap. "I'm actually not the science-loving, gear-hugging dork you all know as your brother."

"What the shell are you talking about?" Raphael butted in, still armed with his sai. "You look and sound just like him, except that you seem like you've been hit by a bomb and is equipped with a nasty temper."

"Like I said," the purple-masked turtle repeated, sending Raph an intense glare, "I'm not the Donatello you all know and love."

"If you ain't our Donnie, then who are you?"

He took in a deep breath, emphasizing the gravity of what he was about to say.

"I'm…from an alternate dimension. Technically – "

A crude snort interrupted him. Donatello turned to its source: The turtle with the most attitude in the team.

"You're joking, right?" Raph scoffed as he let out a laugh. "Seriously? 'Alternate dimension'? That's a load of bull! There's no such thing as – "

There was a sudden flash and the red-masked turtle found himself staring at the newcomer's blade that was an inch from his face. He tried to counter-attack with his sai, only to notice their absences in his hands. He checked his belt but they weren't there.

"I ain't like your Donnie. I ain't a peace-wanting geek," alternate dimension Donatello hissed as he moved his naginata's blade to Raphael's neck. "I'm more like a 'kick butt first, ask later' kind of guy. Plus, I get ticked off easily. So if I were you, I'd watch my mouth."

His defiant stare and slight snarl made Raph think that he was looking at a mirror image of himself. Leo ran towards them, only to be stopped by a sai pointed at him.

"And you, Leonardo," the purple-masked turtle added, not turning around, "blaming yourself for your brother's death ain't gonna help. So is telling yourself that you can't protect your family. You're a teenaged mutant ninja turtle, for crying out loud! You'd better get your head back in the game before I'll do it myself! And stop it with all of this depression shi – I mean – crap! That goes for all of you _baka_!"

Not waiting for them to nod in agreement, Donatello retracted his bo's blade and threw the sai back to Raphael. He then put his staff back on the belt holster on his back, grabbed a heavy-looking duffel bag that sat nearby and began to walk away.

"It's getting late. Let's get back to the lair and I'll explain everything there."

They made the trip back to the sewers in silence with the alternate dimension brainiac in the lead. It slightly bewildered the other three turtles that he actually knew the way back to the lair.

"Your Donatello…how did he die?" He suddenly asked.

The three looked at each other, uneasiness settling in the pits of their stomachs. When he got no immediate answer from them, the disfigured turtle came to a halt and swung his duffel bag 360 degrees, effectively hitting them when they sped by.

"Hey! What was that for?" Michelangelo whined as he rubbed the area that got hit – his left cheek.

"I believe I asked you _gaki_ a question," Donatello barked, approaching the youngest turtle. "Ain't it a show of politeness and good manners to answer the question?"

"He got hit by the Foot's shuriken," it was Leonardo who replied, stepping in front of Mikey and protecting him from the brainiac's impending wrath. "I was tripped by one of the Foot ninja and would've been killed if it weren't for Donnie. He was the one who got battered with shuriken instead of me. His shell was practically riddled with them, a few of the shuriken going about two inches deep."

The leader could have sworn he saw a flash of surprise in Donatello's eyes, but it only lasted for a second, too short a time for him to confirm.

"Two inches, huh?" The bo-staff wielder repeated, scratching his head in thought. "The shuriken must've snapped his spinal column and cord in several places, instantly killing him."

"Wait. Wouldn't it like leave him in a paralysis or something like that instead of…you know – "

"As I said, his spinal cord would've been broken in several places, not in only one. This would sever his brain's connection to most of his body. His heart would stop beating, his diaphragm would stop contracting to let air into his lungs and so on and so forth. Death will follow shortly afterwards."

As he spoke, the others were staring at him with wide, shock-filled eyes, including Raphael the gore lover. In return, he cocked an eye ridge.

"What?" He questioned as he walked on again. "Was it something I said?"

"It was pretty much everything you said," Raph pointed out, suppressing a shiver. "And what's in that bag you carry anyway? When you hit us with it, it felt like a sack of bricks was thrown at us."

"None of your business."

Donatello jumped off the building and nimbly landed on the pavement. He then came to a sewer lid, lifted it and pointed at the now open manhole.

"Get in," he simply ordered.

The three brothers landed next to him and looked at the manhole with much doubt. He facepalmed.

"What the shell is it this time?"

"Well, it's just that…we aren't really familiar with New York's sewage systems," Michelangelo answered as he rubbed the back of his neck, "we have yet to travel the canals and we could get lost and – "

"I get it! I get it!" The brainiac cut him off and muttered something in Japanese. "Just get your frigging shells in already! I know the way back! Gah! You guys are hopeless a_hondura_!"

**A/N**

**So Donnie's not really Donnie but an alternate dimension Donnie.**

**OK, too many Donnie's there. XD**

**Sorry if I gave some Donnie fans out there a scare, if any. Like what my mother says: "Why would the director kill a main character if he knows that the fans of his show will most likely get angry at him?"**

**Alternate dimension Donnie's a badass, don't you think? I mean, he almost cussed there! If you don't know what I mean, I suggest you read again his conversation with Leo where he had Raph pinned with his naginata.**

**Right so…here's the meaning for those italicized Japanese words. Let's call it…the "Japanese Vocab Corner"! (Note that alt-dimension Donnie refers to all of them so apply the words' forms of pluralization)**

_Baka_** – Idiot, but can also mean Dumbass.**

_Gaki_** – Kid, but can also mean Brat.**

_Ahondura_** – See **_Baka_**.**

**Hope you liked this chapter!**


	3. Scarred

As they moved speedily through the sewers, Leo, Raph and Mikey made sure to keep their distance from alt-dimension Donnie. The turtle basically radiated off a stern and inhospitable aura, the firm scowl on his face as proof. He seemed to be more serious than their Sensei and also might be more ruthless. This factor, along with him leading the way back to the lair and his height, made him look older than his age. Shell, it even looked like he was the eldest of the four and not Leonardo.

"Dunno why I am saying this, but this version of our deceased geeky brother freaks me out a bit," Raphael whispered as he fell back to his eldest sibling's side.

"Yeah," Michelangelo agreed, joining them, "he's a real grouch. He's a whole lot grumpier than Leo and Master Splinter combined."

"He acts so mature and – " Leonardo cut himself short to process what the youngest said. "Hey! I'm not that grumpy!"

"My point exactly."

"Oi! You _gaki_ finished with your little pep talk?" Donatello suddenly inquired, looking over his shoulder and at them.

His hard burgundy stare made them gulp in and they nodded. A few minutes later, they reached the lair. It was ten minutes until midnight.

"Leonardo! Raphael! Michelangelo!" Master Splinter called, anger evident in his voice. "Why are you three home this late? The time is 11:50PM and – "

Shock interrupted his likely lecture. Standing before him was his late son Donatello, scarred, scowling and pretty much alive. The old rat dropped his jade staff as he walked towards the purple-masked turtle gradually, as if caught in a trance. With shaky hands, he took his son's arms, feeling the rough and marred skin underneath his touch. Sepia eyes met burgundy ones as with the same trembling hands, Splinter cupped his son's face before he thought it would fade away just like any other hallucination.

But it didn't. His son was truly there.

"H-How?" Was all he could force out of his throat, tears threatening to spill.

Donatello closed his eyes and when he opened them, they stared hard and deeply into Splinter's soul. He then stepped back, freeing his face from the rat's warm and tender hold.

"I'm sorry, Splinter_-san_," he said rather grimly, "but I am not your son."

Splinter's face was laced with confusion and seeing this, the brainiac sighed and motioned him to the couch to sit. The other turtles also joined in, taking their seats on the floor in front of their Sensei. Donatello sat on the floor as well, his carapace facing the TV as he faced them.

"From where I come from, in my dimension, the whole world has gone wrong," he began, his voice loud and clear. "Oroku Saki, AKA Shredder, managed to rule over everything with his power and help from the Foot clan. He even collaborated with the Kraangs and that made matters worse. He made New York City his base of operations and with the Kraangs' Mutagen, turned most of the Big Apple's residents into mutants and controlled them."

"No way!" Mikey gasped, leaning in closer. "That's…terrible!"

"Shredder…how can he become so powerful ?" Leo wondered allowed as he and Master Splinter shared worried glances.

"What kind of a sick and twisted world is that?" Raph questioned, hands balled into fists on his thighs.

"My world," Donatello answered and went on. "What made it more horrific was when my brothers Raphael and Leonardo got into an argument and eventually, a fight with each other. From then on, they went their own ways, leaving me, Michelangelo and Master Splinter to fend for ourselves.

"I had to step up to the role of being the leader since my Sensei was getting weaker everyday due to a fatal injury that he obtained in a brawl with some of the Foot. We struggled to survive. Shredder had the Foot infiltrate the sewers and we had to move to an abandoned warehouse by the docks. We were doing good for some time until…"

The brainiac heaved out a sad sigh. For a minute, everyone thought he was going to cry right in front of them, but his gaze hardened, telling them otherwise.

"It was raining that night when the Foot suddenly barged in, armed with the latest of the Kraangs' gear and technology," he continued and fingered a scar that ran from his left bicep to halfway down his forearm. "They gave me this. It was bleeding a lot and hurt like shell, but it was nothing compared to what happened next.

"Right in front of me, before my very eyes, they killed Michelangelo and Sensei. They were practically skewered with the Foot's katana and their blood splattered almost everywhere, including on me. Inside me, something snapped and I went into a frenzy fueled by revenge and bloodlust, annihilating almost every single one of those _teme_. The next thing I knew, I was captured and brought to Shredder.

"I wanted to kill him so badly and what stimulated this was what I saw in his room. Leonardo's and Raphael's shells hung on his wall like plaques and award certificates. They were as good as dead and those were the proofs to that. For the second time, I cracked and went head-to-head with the tyrant, successfully decapitating him."

There was a moment of silence. Splinter, Leo, Raph and Mikey took the time to look at the disfigured turtle before them. All those scars…had Shredder done this to him in their fight?

"My son, you have been through the worst of things," Splinter stated softly, gazing intently at him. "But how and why you came here is still not clarified."

"An invention of mine did it," Donatello replied as he brought out a calculator-resembling device from his duffel bag. "The Foot were on to me after I killed their master. I created the Time-and-Space Jumper to escape and turn back everything so that I can reverse and redo how it all happened. But instead of doing that, it ripped a hole in time and space continuum and sent me hurtling through all sorts of periods and dimensions. Pirates, knights, aliens, you name it, I've seen it. After countless of out-of-schedule visits, I was finally able to fix the TSJ."

He pressed a certain red button on the gadget and the Time-and-Space Jumper came to life. Its screen glowed a bright lime green and from it projected another screen, this time transparent, hologram-like and much bigger. The turtles and their rat father watched in awe as Donatello swiped across the seemingly tangible screen with a finger, skimming through hundreds of files and folders. After a couple more swipes, he finally found the file of his choice and clicked it. The hologram screen then played a maximized view of a video. In the video were the three turtles, their Sensei and their human friend April, all of them sadly watching something float on the sewer canal and away from them as it blazed on and on.

"Familiar?" Donatello asked.

"That's…Donnie's coffin," Leonardo pointed at the burning box in the video.

The alt-dimension brainiac nodded and turned off his TSJ, the video and hologram screen vanishing all of a sudden.

"This was how I came to this dimension," he explained, holding out the device. "Your Donatello died and I knew it would corrupt this dimension's future, especially with all your mopping around and depression crap. I came here to stop this before it would be too late."

"If that doohickey can let you travel across time," Raphael started, frowning, "then how come you didn't use it to save our Donnie from dying?"

He had a point. The red-masked turtle's brothers nodded in agreement and turned to the bo-staff wielder for an answer.

"Because," Donatello spat out the word in annoyance, "if I were to meet this dimension's Donatello, the entire time and space continuum would collapse on itself and everything will cease to exist. Can't risk that now, can we?"

"But still – "

"_Urusai_!" The purple-masked turtle yelled as he got onto his feet. "There's no use explaining complex matters with you _ahondura_. You're all too naïve and easily moved by the wave of events around you. This dimension's Shredder will surely finish you off if you're all that weak."

The comment struck a nerve. Raph stood up and came face-to-face with the brainiac. They were growling at one another and were about to lunge at each other's throat when Splinter came in between.

"Raphael! Donatello!" He exclaimed, thumping the floor once with his staff. "Enough of this! Calm down and regain your composure."

He then turned to the disfigured turtle on his left and reached out to him.

"Donatello, my son – "

To his and his sons' surprise, the brainiac swatted his hand away and glared at him.

"I might look like your son, Splinter_-san_," he said coldly, a raging fire in his burgundy eyes, "but I definitely am NOT your son. Neither are you my father and Sensei. He's dead, along with my brothers and everyone else I cared about."

The rat stood there, hand still reached out and a look of utter shock in his face. In anger, alt-dimension Donatello swung his duffel bag over his shoulder and went to the late Donatello's room, slamming the door in the process. Leo proceeded to follow him but was stopped by his father's hand on his shoulder.

"But Sensei – "

"No, Leonardo. He is right. He is not our Donatello and therefore, we have no authority and meaning in his life. We will just stand by and watch as he does what he thinks is appropriate for all of us."

And with that, Splinter returned to his room, head hung in sadness. His sons watched his retreating back with solemn expressions.

"Sensei…"

/

In his room, Donatello locked the door, set down his duffel bag on the nearby desk and sat on the neat yet a bit dusty bed.

"Like I said, easily moved by the wave of events," he repeated to himself as a nasty grin appeared on his face. "Even if they're just lies."

**A/N**

**Donnie, what are you up to?**

**Yes, alt-dimension Donnie's story was referenced from the TMNT 2003-2009 episode entitled "Same As It Never Was". In that episode, Donnie was sent to a dimension where Shredhead's basically the ruler of the world, his family had split apart, April's the leader of an anti-Shredder faction, Splinter's dead and the Donnie of that dimension was nowhere to be found. In the end, all of his alt-dimension brothers died and he defeated the upgraded Shredder. To those who don't know this, I highly recommend you watch this. It's a sad yet heart-warming story. :')**

**Right now, I wanna have a TSJ of my own. I have a lot of things to rewind and redo, lots of embarrassing moments I wanna erase. Sadly, such an invention is not yet available. DX**

**Japanese Vocab Corner**

_-san_** – A Japanese title equivalent to the English "Mr." or "Ms.", depending on the gender.**

_Teme_** – Jerk, but can also mean Bastard (I think alt-dimension Donnie preferred the latter).**

"_Urusai!"_** – "Shut up!", but can also mean "Silence!" or "Quiet!" or flat out "Too noisy!".**

**Longest chapter so far. Whew! **


	4. When Life Suddenly Sucks

**Disclaimer: I do not own TMNT 2012.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own TMNT 2012.**

It's official: Having alt-dimension Donnie around only made things worse.

Two weeks have passed since he FORCEFULLY moved in to NYC's family of ninja mutants and to the teenaged members of the family, he made their lives a living (s)hell.

He was downright ill-tempered, having quarrels mostly with equally-grouchy Raph and sometimes with Leo who was somewhat paranoid about his position as leader being taken away from him by the time-and-space traveler. Mikey couldn't keep up with him, especially since the brainiac always gave him death glares which could have made Chris Bradford pee his pants. Sadly, the orange-masked turtle had once done just that.

He was also unsociable. He spent most of his time in his room, working on whatever it was he worked on. He had become the first to wake up in the morning instead of Leo, rising from his bed at 4AM to eat breakfast ahead of the others. This way, he wouldn't have to join them at the table and waste his time with those _baka_, as he calls them. On night patrols, he would usually lag behind and keep his distance, like how one would when in line with a person suffering from leprosy in front.

And finally, he was a complete show-off, or that was what Raph thought. He generally stays away from the training dojo, saying that the experiences in his home dimension had driven him to master the ways of ninjutsu. But there were those days when he'd drop by and watch the turtles do their training, then scoff afterwards, remarking that compared to him, they were just novices, even with their fifteen years of learning and preparations.

Unfortunately, today was one of said days.

"Not enough," Donatello tsk-tsked, standing in the doorway. "Seriously, is that how pathetic you _baka_ are?"

Raph growled. He badly wanted to teach that bigheaded jerk a lesson or two. Good thing his brothers were able to hold him back, though with much difficulty. Seeing the red-masked turtle restrained (sorta), the brainiac pushed on.

"You're all just a waste of time. Even for Shredder."

"Shut up, you arrogant, egoistic son of a gun!" Raphael finally yelled out, trying desperately to free himself from Leo's and Mikey's slipping grips. "You keep on going and Imma scratch your eyes out!"

The disfigured turtle just smirked as he entered the dojo, an air of confidence in the atmosphere around him. Time to let out the big gun.

"No wonder why your Donatello died so easily. He's a total wimp, probably more than you _ahondura_ are."

Now, both the eldest and the youngest were also glaring at him. The two turned to each other, nodded and let Raphael go. The sai wielder lunged at the alt-dimension brainiac, armed with his signature weapons. Donatello's smirk turned into a small frown as he jumped up and used his bo-staff to hit Raph as he sped under him.

"You call that an attack?" The purple-masked turtle taunted, landing back on the _tatami_ nimbly.

There were battle cries behind him so he turned around, just in time to see Leonardo and Michelangelo leap into the air and at him. Sighing, he swung his bo around, striking not only the two above him, but also Raphael who was about to attack from behind. All three turtles fell to the floor with deafening thuds.

"How weak can you _teme_ get, huh?" Donatello shouted more in frustration than as an insult. "Just because one of you is dead that doesn't mean you all have to wallow around and follow him to the afterlife! Get your sorry shells up and fight!"

Shakily and slowly, Leo, Raph and Mikey got on their feet, eyes burning with anger and determination. Tightening their grips on their weapons, they rushed in again, the dojo echoing their battle cries. They slashed furiously at the brainiac who simply blocked their blind attacks with his long staff.

"_Made made dame_!" He cried out.

Using his staff as support, he jumped and did a full, midair split, his right foot colliding with Michelangelo's chest and his left foot crashing into Leonardo's jaw. The force of the impacts sent the two flying straight into the wall on either side of the dojo, their weapons soaring out of their hands. With his feet now back on the floor, Donatello made a solid, downward stroke with his staff, bringing it down on Raphael and effectively pinning him down on the _tatami_.

"Your lack of control over your anger will surely be your downfall, Raphael," the disfigured turtle said darkly, eyes white and unfeeling, "try to keep it in check."

"Donatello!" Came the call of a deep, elderly voice.

Master Splinter had just entered the dojo, frowning and lips curled into a slight snarl. The brainiac stood up straight as he slipped his bo back into the belt holster on his back.

"Just teaching your _gaki _a few tricks, Splinter_-san _," he reasoned nonchalantly.

"It is I who teach here, not you," the old rat half-growled, coming up to him with an air of authority. "I will tolerate your displeasing presence in my home, but I will NOT tolerate you hurting my sons. You dare lay a finger on them again after this and I will see to it that you will suffer the consequences."

Splinter felt a stab to his heart when he saw the hurt expression in alt-dimension Donatello's burgundy eyes, reminding him of his late Donatello's somewhat weak-heartedness towards painful chidings. Nonetheless, it disappeared as fleetingly as it came and was replaced by a stone cold glare.

"Tch," was all the time-and-space traveler could spit out in anger and loathing.

The rat opened his mouth to say something and take his scold back, but Donatello pushed his way through, shoving his right shoulder into Splinter's rather roughly. Splinter turned around to see him exit the dojo, his feet pounding heavily against the cement floor as he walked away.

'_Donatello…'_

The past two weeks weren't easy for the father of the mutant family. Hearing his three sons complain about the freeloader had not only been ear-banging, but also heart-aching as well. He wanted to talk to Donatello about this, to try to at least lighten the heavy load of suffering and scarring experiences he carried on his marred shoulders. But how could he when the purple-masked turtle distanced himself from the ones who were struggling to welcome and accept him with open arms?

As Splinter helped his bruised sons up, his sensitive ears picked up footsteps heading towards the dojo. He had the teensiest hope that it was Donatello coming back to check on how the other turtles were doing, but noted that the footsteps were just too light. That was when April O'Neil peered through the doorway, panting and eyes wide as if she had seen a ghost.

Oh, wait…

"Can anybody tell me why Donnie bumped into me earlier and went to his room when he's supposed to be dead?"

**A/N**

**Sorry for the crappy chapter. Just wanted to approach the soft side of things a bit *rubs the back of her head*.**

**Anyways, thanks for your reviews! Really perked me up when I read them and I practically went all jittery and stuff. They truly are inspirations for me to write on. ^^**

**But seriously, though. It freaked me out a bit when I portrayed how cold alt-dimension Donnie is. He really needs to chillax (chill + relax). XD**

**I liked the way how I got April in there at the end of the chapter. Yes, she'll be having more appearances from now on, but not really as much as I want to so that she'll look like a mob character or something like that. LOL**

**Japanese Vocab Corner**

_Tatami_** – Japanese bamboo/straw mat, the ones you see carpeting dojos and Japanese homes.**

"_Made made dame!"_** – "Not enough!", but can also mean "Too weak!" or "Needs more practice!". Referenced from the anime **_**Prince Of Tennis**_**. **

**Why I put two disclaimers in this chapter is because I forgot to put one in the past chapter and I'm too lazy to edit it in. XP**


	5. Suspicious

**Disclaimer: I do not own TMNT 2012.**

"So…the Donatello who I saw earlier is from a horrible alternate dimension where his family's dead and he killed Shredder?" April asked as she handed Leonardo an icebag.

"Yeah," Leo replied, gently applying the icebag onto his bruised jaw. "That's why he has all those scars on him."

"But that still ain't an excuse for him to act like a real jerk," Raph griped, scowling.

"Or beat us up like what he did earlier," Mikey added then shivered a bit. "Dude's crazy strong. And when I say crazy strong, I mean both strong and crazy."

His brothers hummed and nodded in agreement. April put a finger to her lips in thought.

"I don't get it," she wondered aloud. "Why is he here in our dimension in the first place?"

"Beats me," it was Raphael who answered as he got himself a glass of water, "he said something about our future being at risk and stuff like that. Bah! Whatever his reason is, he just barged his way into our family, kicked our shells and mocked us. Like I told you, a complete show-off!"

"Good thing Sensei was able to tell him off before he could beat us up further," Michelangelo sighed in relief.

"I kinda agree with you guys," April admitted, "but I feel sad for him. Still a teenager and he had to go through all of those bad things. I guess he had no other choice but to become an adult at once to take all of that in."

The turtles didn't respond, but the girl knew that she had hit the nail on the head.

"Whatever!" Raph waved off, walking away. "To me, he's still a bad vibe to this family. Now if you'll excuse me, I've got a monster truck rally to watch."

"And I've got a date with three slices of Ultra Cheese Pizza!" Mikey reasoned happily as he also skipped off.

April sighed rather heavily. Boys will be boys, even if they're teenaged mutant ninja turtles.

"Hey, April," she heard Leo call and turned to him. "If you're stuck in a situation like ours, what would you do?"

His human friend gave him a genuine smile. Well, at least one of the boys listened.

"I guess I would dig a little deeper," she said, placing a hand on his right shoulder. "I'd try to understand him better and respect him for what he's been through. You know what they say. Experience is the best teacher. And practically, Donatello's had a lot of experience."

The blue-masked turtle stared at her blankly for a moment, then smiled back, a sign that he understood her lecture.

"Thanks for the advice, April," he stated.

'_Now I know why Donnie liked her…'_

/

Raphael got out of bed early in the morning to answer the call of nature. He was trudging drowsily to the bathroom when he heard grunts of some sorts, followed by what sounded like whacking and thumping.

'_It's freaking 2AM! Who the shell is up this early?'_

He followed the noise to the dojo, careful to not make a sound. Sure enough, someone was inside, training in the candlelight which projected his shadow onto the sliding door. Raph observed the shadow as it kicked and punched the air.

'_What? Who…?'_

It was one of his brothers, Raph was certain, for the shadow had an outline of a shell on its back. Suddenly, the shadow brought out a pair of katana and began slashing at the air with it.

'_Leo? Seriously? Can't he get a break or something?'_

He was well convinced that it was the eldest training in the dojo when the shadow dropped its katana and armed itself with a pair of nunchaku.

'_Huh? Mikey? Impossible!'_

The red-masked turtle watched in awe as the shadow swung the nunchaku about and interchanged them into _kusarigama_. This went on, the shadow switching weapons every now and then, from heavy-looking clubs and maces to weirdly-shaped blades and even a pair of sai, making Raph wonder just how many weapons whoever it was in there had.

One thing was confirmed, though: The mystery turtle sure knew how to handle ALL of those weapons.

Finally, the shadow twirled about an all too familiar bo-staff. Raphael inched closer towards the sliding door.

'_No way! Could it be…that jerk?'_

A blade pierced through the sliding door all of a sudden, a few centimeters from the sai wielder's face. Raph yelped in surprise as he stumbled back. The shadow started to grow bigger and he heard footsteps coming his way from inside the dojo.

'_Darn it! He's on to me!'_

And without another thought, the turtle made a mad dash back to his quarters, completely forgetting his supposed trip to the bathroom.

/

After breakfast that morning, Michelangelo decided to take his time on the couch and watch a show on TV a bit. However, when he got to said piece of furniture, he saw an unexpected device on the cushions.

No, it wasn't the usually hard-to-find remote, but Mikey wished it were.

"Hey…alt-dimension Donnie's TSJ," he mumbled to himself as he took the gadget.

He examined it for a while, amazed that such a small piece of technology had the power to rip a hole in the fabric of space-time con…con…con-something.

'_Wouldn't hurt if I take a look.'_

Curiosity had him in its gnarled clutches as he turned it on. Instantly, the TSJ's hologram screen popped up and the youngest of the ninja turtles was soon scanning through the hundreds of files and folders the machine stored, choosing which he should look into first. That was until he came upon a suspiciously-named file.

'_Ooooooh….File X. Wonder what it's about.'_

With his tongue sticking out, he was about to press it when the TSJ was abruptly seized out of his hands.

"WHAT THE SHELL DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING?" Donatello screamed, holding his gadget close to his plastron.

"I saw it on the couch!" Mikey yelled back as he got on his feet. "Look, Donnie. If you don't want anyone looking through your private stuff, then keep it to yourself, not in where it's exposed for everyone to see and touch."

The alt-dimension brainiac turned to the TSJ cradled in his arms and gasped when he saw what Michelangelo had tried to access.

"STAY AWAY FROM MY THINGS, _GAKI_!" He shouted, walking back to his lab. "And it's Donatello, not Donnie. I ain't like your weak brother who's fond of nicknames!"

The lab door slammed shut and Michelangelo winced. Taking a look at the TSJ actually DID hurt. His eardrums were practically throbbing from the purple-masked turtle's shouting.

"What's going on?" Leo asked, he and Raph coming to their baby brother's side. "We heard yelling."

"Dudes," Mikey started, massaging his temples, "we gotta discuss about alt-dimension Donnie."

/

In the confines of his lab, Donatello was sitting in a corner with his knees brought up to his chest.

"They're beginning to get suspicious," he murmured to no one, his eyes narrowed.

He glanced at the TSJ in his hands. Its hologram screen revealed the contents of File X: A picture of a Japanese man in his late twenties with a big red "X" on it.

"But the turtles must not find out. They must not interfere with my plans," he whispered, staring at the picture with burning hatred in his burgundy eyes. "Almost time to start Operation X: Kill The Shredder."

**A/N**

**No, Donnie! It's too dangerous! O.O**

**So that's what he's been planning all this time. But is he really strong enough to take down the Shreadhead of that dimension? I mean seriously, the guy's nastier than my mother when she's cranky! O_o XDD**

**Now, about me updating. Since it's already my Christmas break here, I'll probably update once every week. Twice if I can type up new chapters fast or if I'm in the mood. I'm a mood person. LOL**

**And since I have only two weeks of breaktime from school, expect some abnormal no-updating periods in two weeks' time. Yes, my school is that cruel. **

**Japanese Vocab Corner**

_Kusarigama_** – A Japanese weapon used by TMNT 2012 Michelangelo. Literally "chain-sickle".**

**Now I'm off to watch some Gintama!**


	6. Painful Memory

**Disclaimer: I do not own TMNT 2012.**

"I don't know what it's about," Michelangelo said, "but alt-dimension Donnie really was defensive over it. I mean, isn't something with the letter 'X' in it full of secrets and conspiracies and stuff?"

"'File X', huh?" Leonardo murmured, rubbing his chin in thought. "Sounds…shady."

"'Sounds shady'?" Raphael repeated with an irritated tone in his voice. "It IS shady, Leo! That guy's totally untrustworthy! Earlier this morning, when I went for a trip to the bathroom, I saw him in the dojo. He was training all right. But here's the catch: He had a lot of different weapons with him. And he knows how to handle them all!"

"Spooky and cool at the same time," the youngest whistled as he wrapped his arms around himself. "I think he's planning to kill us…"

His brothers just stared at him as if he was wearing a live duck for a hat.

"What? You know that he practically hates our guts! It's like in those horror-thriller movies where a seemingly friendly guy moves in with the protagonists and starts getting close with them when he's actually a real psycho who finds slaughtering innocent people fun!"

"Mikey," Leo sighed as he and Raph facepalmed, "stop being so paranoid! This version of our Donatello is a bona fide grouch and all, but he's not gonna kill us. That's just pointless! Besides, he's not even friendly in the first place."

The orange-masked turtle seemed to relax a bit at his words, but then tensed up.

"But what if – "

"Oh come on, Mikey!" The leader exclaimed, stomping his right foot. "Fine. I'll prove it to you that he's not a homicidal maniac like you think he is."

"How?" His two younger brothers questioned together.

"I'll dig a little deeper," he replied, remembering April's words. "I'm gonna talk to him."

And with that, he left his siblings in the kitchen, both gaping.

"NO, LEO!" Mikey finally cried out as he ran for the eldest. "LEO! IT'S SUICIDE!"

"He's out of his mind," Raph mumbled, then shrugged his shoulders. "Hey! Call me when Fearless gets his shell walloped!"

/

Donatello was still staring at his target's picture when he heard a knock on his lab door. Grumbling in frustration, he turned off his TSJ, walked to the door and opened it, only for his burgundy eyes to meet ocean blue ones.

"What the shell do you want, Leonardo?" He groused, not at all pleased to be disturbed.

"I just want something clarified," the blue-masked turtle stated as he took in a deep breath. "Why do you – how should I say it – despise us?"

The brainiac was slightly taken aback by his question. Nonetheless, he tch-ed sharply in annoyance.

"Why shouldn't I? You're all _baka_, naïve, easily depressed, irritating, careless – "

"And we let our own brother die?"

His eyes widened in surprise and he quickly turned his back on the intruder to hide his quickening respiration.

"I-I shouldn't have brought that up," Leonardo stammered, rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly. "I mean, he's you after all, and I guess it disappointed you when you learned that we did nothing to save him. But please leave Sensei, Mikey and Raph out this. I was the main reason why our Donnie got killed. It's practically my fault – "

He was cut short when he felt himself yanked violently from his place in the doorway and slammed into one of the lab's walls, cracking it in the process.

"STOP SAYING THAT, YOU BASTARD!" Donatello shouted, his right arm across the katana wielder's throat while his left one was pinning him to the wall. "STOP TELLING ME THAT IT WAS ALL YOUR FUCKING FAULT! FOR _KAMI_'S SAKE, STOP TAKING ALL THE BLAME JUST BECAUSE YOU FEEL RESPONSIBLE FOR IT! STOP CLAIMING THAT YOU CAUSED THIS SHIT WHEN SOMEONE ELSE DID!"

Despite his aching carapace, Leonardo was gawking at him in shock. The door to the lab was left wide open and Michelangelo and Raphael were peering through, beyond themselves in disbelief. His yelling and colorful language also seemed to catch Splinter's attention for the old rat had abandoned his meditation to find out what all the commotion was about.

"I…uh…" The disfigured turtle then let out a low, animalistic growl as he let the eldest of the teenaged mutants fall on his rump to the floor.

Avoiding any eye contact, the alt-dimension brainiac went to his room, packed his things into his duffel bag and swung it over his left shoulder. After grabbing his bo-staff and without another word, he left the lair and the mutant family behind.

He had no honest intention of ever coming back.

/

Ah, nighttime in New York. I gotta admit, I missed this sight pretty much with all its tall skyscrapers, heavy traffic and flashing lights. Now, without those pathetic excuses for ninja around, I can fully appreciate it as I leapt from rooftop to rooftop.

Then, out of the corner of my eye, I spotted several dark figures moving stealthily on the buildings on the other side of the street. Wanting to have a better view, I landed on a nearby clothesline and focused my gaze. I identified them to be a small group of Foot ninja.

I felt my mouth tug into a smirk. Pulling on the strap of my duffel bag, I silently went after the Foot.

I guess you're wondering why I'm stalking the Foot _teme_, right? It's actually pretty simple: If I follow the Foot, they'll lead me to Shredder and then, I can finally kill him and move on to the next wretched dimension. For short, Operation X.

And what pushed me to do this, you ask? Well, let's just say I have a score to settle with Shredhead after he practically became overlord of the entire world and slew my family. My dimension's Shredder, that is. And why is this dimension's Shredder involved? He really isn't, but do I look like I give a damn about it?

For what my dimension's Shredder did, every Shredder from every dimension will pay for it. Thanks to my TSJ, I was able to travel to whichever dimension I wanted and fulfill the vendetta. I don't care whether or not Oroku Saki took up the identity as Shredder. If he was ever innocent or even a good guy in some dimensions, I don't give a damn. As long as I can eradicate his existence in every dimension, I'm a happy mutant turtle. After all, an eye for an eye. But in Oroku Saki's case, it's his life that I'm after. Every Shredder is marked for a slow and painful death by my hands.

To be honest, I never really cared about this dimension's turtles, nor of their future. Those _gaki_ are just my tickets to a place to crash in. Shell, almost everything I told them about me is a lie. Ha! They sure are _ahondura_!

"_It's practically my fault…"_

What this dimension's Leonardo said earlier was stuck in my head. _Chikuso_. Before I can even stop it, the unwelcome memory flashed in my mind, making me relive it all over again.

"_It's my fault, Raph, not his. If I had been more alert of the Foot's actions – "_

"_WOULD YOU STOP TAKING ALL THE BLAME, LEO? HOW CAN IT BE YOUR FAULT WHEN YOU'RE THE ONE WHO'S WOUNDED HERE, HUH?"_

"_Come on, Raph. Don't take it out on Donnie – "_

"_WHY SHOULDN'T I? IF HE HADN'T BEEN SO CARELESS, YOU WOULDN'T BE SKEWERED BY THE FOOT'S SHURIKEN IN THE FIRST PLACE!"_

_My brother in red turned to me with such hatred in his acid green eyes._

"_You know it's your fault why Fearless took the bullet for you, right, Donnie? YOU SHOULD BE THE ONE IN BANDAGES, GENIUS! NOT HIM!"_

"_RAPHAEL! ENOUGH!" I heard Sensei yell through my sobs. "No one is to blame for Leonardo's actions. It is in the past so leave it as it is! Your brother Donatello is going through so much already!"_

_Raph was still glaring at me and I can do nothing but cry. What he said next shattered my entire world._

"_I have no brother who will let others sacrifice their lives for him."_

I came to a halt and gripped my pounding head. I could tell that the Foot were way ahead of me now, out of my reach. And _Kami_, the memory was just getting worse.

_I dashed off as fast as I could. Raph had left the lair and when no one was looking, Leo had gone after him. I had that gut feeling that they're gonna have an argument instead of a peaceful discussion. Leo's not in the right shape for one at the moment and Raph's not in the right state of mind to handle one either. I told Mikey to stay behind and keep Sensei at bay. I don't wanna have him scar his innocent mind._

_After a few minutes, I finally reached my two elder brothers. They were facing each other and both were armed with their weapons and were panting heavily. I didn't want to analyze what had happened but my logic unwittingly did it for me: Raph and Leo had done something much worse than verbal conflict. _

_They had actually been fighting. Pure physical contact. Metal clashed against metal. Sai versus katana. Red versus blue. Brother versus brother._

_Before I knew it, I was gasping desperately for air. The blow it inflicted on me was so severe, so mind-numbing. Raph was the one in front of me, his shell facing me. Shakily, I reached out to him. I wanted – no – NEEDED his support, his answer that everything was gonna be fine._

"_Raph…" I heard myself whisper oh so feebly._

_Then, what happened next was a blur. There was a gleam of silver and my left arm was engulfed in searing hot pain like none I have ever felt before. My right hand took hold of it, coming in contact with an eerily familiar red liquid._

_Blood._

_In seconds, my whole left arm was drenched in it. The slash was long and deep, extending from my bicep to halfway down my forearm. I was gasping because of the pain now and from my cut-open arm, I lifted my gaze. I regretted what I saw._

_Raph had turned to me, his eyes white and his mouth curled into a snarl. The sai in his right hand was dripping fresh blood._

_MY blood._

_I looked on in utter fear into his blank eyes. My own brother had wounded me._

_Raph blinked and his eyes were acid green again. He saw my bloodied arm and turned to his bloodstained sai, dropping it when reality came crashing down on him._

"_Oh, God. Donnie, I'm so sorry. I…I didn't mean…God, no…."_

_There were two other clangs and Leo had come to my side, unarmed and also looking at my arm in shock._

"_Donnie! You're bleeding!" His usually calm voice took on an infuriated tone as he turned to Raph. "WHAT THE SHELL DID YOU DO TO HIM?"_

_I backed away from them slowly, my eyes stinging from the tears that had begun to fall. My brothers saw me and were trying to approach me, their arms thrown wide apart to usher me in._

_My brain told me to collapse into their welcoming arms and let them handle everything. My heart screamed to me that I deserved it for being so weak and that I should ask for more of it. But I ignored both of them and instead listened to what my leg muscles said: Run._

_I outran my brothers with speed I never knew I had, my blood leaving behind a red trail. I found Mikey and Sensei waiting for the three of us in the lair. I wanted to wrap my arms around them and cry into their shoulders, but I knew better. So I pushed past them, retreated to my room and slammed the door shut. I could tell that they were alarmed to see me bleeding as I arrived._

_Thinking fast, I pressed my right palm hard into my wound, biting down my lower lip to suppress a yelp. When I was sure that the bleeding had stopped, I fumbled the space underneath my bed. Once I had my grip on the med kit, I pulled it out and flipped it open. Then, I grabbed the rubbing alcohol, a stitching needle and some thread and began working on my wound. After finishing it, I wrapped it up with a healthy amount of gauze bandages._

_The whole procedure and the blood loss weakened me, so I settled to slump down on the floor and lean heavily on my door. From outside, I could hear Sensei's scolds and lecture, a sign that Raph and Leo had finally come back. And then there was loud whimpering. Mikey perhaps?_

_Then, it struck me like a lightning bolt. I was the reason why Leo was badly injured. I was the reason why he and Raph had a fight. I was the reason why they were going to be punished by Sensei. I was the reason why Mikey was crying right now._

_My family was slowly splitting apart, and I was the reason why. This was all my fault._

_I felt new, hot tears streak down my face and I screamed._

"_IT'S ALL MY FUCKING FAULT!"_

_There was a knock on my door and I knew I had caught their attention. Panic numbed my mind and I didn't know what to do until I saw the device on my bed. I got on my feet and picked it up. It was a near-finished project of mine. This gadget's supposed to allow you to travel through time and, as I theorize, into different dimensions, providing you with a trip through time and space continuum. The "Time-and-Space Jumper", as Mikey called it when he once came in while I was working on it…_

_Eureka! With the TSJ, I can travel back in time and undo that incident where Leo got badly injured and all of this mess I created will never happen! Sure, the TSJ's not yet complete, but there's no harm if I try it out now, right?_

"_DONNIE! OPEN UP!"_

_As I was packing my things into a duffel bag, I looked at the door. The knocking had turned into banging now and I knew my family was worried about me. I swung my duffel bag over my right shoulder and gave the door one last glance._

"_Sorry, guys, but I have to do this for your sakes. Just…please wait for me. I'll be back as soon as I can…"_

_Without hesitation, I pressed the TSJ's command button and the device shot a bright, lime green beam at my door. Instantly, from where the beam hit, a black hole sprouted – a portal into the plane where time and space meet. The portal seemed stable at first and I began to walk to it. That was until its lime green outline started to vibrate and shake uncontrollably, warping the black hole abnormally and into irregular shapes._

_And before I realized it, I was vacuumed into an empty abyss so black that I thought I had passed out before doing it myself…_

What brought me out from my deep reminiscence was a rather annoying ring. Panting and with my head throbbing wildly, I unzipped my duffel bag, reached into it and pulled out the T-Phone. It actually belonged to this dimension's Donatello and honestly, I don't know why I brought it along with me. Must have fell into my bag when I was packing up.

I looked at its screen and saw that it was this dimension's April O'Neil calling me. Reluctantly, I pressed the answer button and held the phone to my earhole.

"What the shell do you – "

"_Donatello? Thank goodness!"_ She exclaimed, interrupting me. _"You…come…turtles…help…"_

"Slow down, _shoujou_. Could you go to a place where there's better reception? I can't hear you clearly with all the static – "

"_Kraang…attack…too many…can't handle…warehouse – "_

And the line went dead.

Something in the choppy conversation we just had made my heart skip a beat. Was it because of the fact that the _baka_ were in a tight situation and needed my help? Before I can even think of an answer to my question, I had already begun to punch in a series of command codes on the T-Phone's screen and the GPS navigational program popped up, showing me the location of April's phone.

In an old, abandoned warehouse on the New York City docks.

I knew I had to do SOMETHING, but the docks were just too far away and by the time I'd reach it, it would be game over for the turtles and April, even if I abandon Operation X right here, right now.

As I tried to think of a better way, I saw a Channel 6 News helicopter hover above me and immediately, I ducked for cover. Then, a light bulb came to life in my head. I turned to my duffel bag then back to the helicopter.

I had a crazy idea in mind that you and I both know would most likely work.

**A/N**

**The whole chapter alone is 2,873 words! I blame alt-dimension Donnie's flashback for making it SO painstakingly long! No more space for an appropriate Author's Note! DX XD**

**The next few chapters are most likely the action part so stay tuned!**

**Japanese Vocab Corner**

_Kami_** – God, but is also hilariously a Japanese equivalent to both Paper and Hair. XDDD**

"_Chikuso!"_** – "Darn it!", but can also mean "Dammit!" or "Shit!" (knowing alt-dimension Donnie, I think he preferred the latter choices).**

_Shoujou_** – Young Woman, but can also be used to call a girl "Miss".**

**Yes, the Channel 6 News helicopter was referenced from TMNT 1987-1996, wherein it's the same channel that that TMNT's April O'Neil worked for as a news reporter. **


	7. In A Tight Situation

**Disclaimer: I do not own TMNT 2012.**

"_STOP SAYING THAT, YOU BASTARD! STOP TELLING ME THAT IT WAS ALL YOUR FUCKING FAULT! FOR _KAMI_'S SAKE, STOP TAKING ALL THE BLAME JUST BECAUSE YOU FEEL RESPONSIBLE FOR IT! STOP CLAIMING THAT YOU CAUSED THIS SHIT WHEN SOMEONE ELSE DID!"_

Donatello's outburst replayed over and over again in my mind. Aside from the number of profanities that Raph might surely use in the future, I found it disturbing when he reacted like that to what I said before he slammed me into the lab wall. I'm getting that feeling that he's really not telling us everything…

There was a shrill ring from my belt. Sighing, I took out my T-Phone and answered the call.

"Hey, April! How's it hanging?"

"_Leo, the Kraang are at it again!" _She said, panting heavily. _"I followed one of them to this old warehouse by the docks. They're planning to evaporate the Mutagen into the atmosphere so that it can rain down on everybody!"_

This is bad. Not only had April gone off on a Kraang-hunt again, but she also stalked one to a warehouse full of them! Oh, and not to mention that those alien brain-thingies are threatening the safety of humanity again.

"April, wherever you are, just stay put and hide. We'll be on our way so you wait for us. Got it?"

"_Hide from the many Kraangdroids and their energy guns? I'm already on it, Leo."_

With a nod, I turned off my T-Phone. Raph and Mikey were staring at me with questioning looks.

"It's April," I began, "she said the Kraang are going to rain their Mutagen down on everyone. They've set camp in a warehouse by the docks."

"Well? What the shell are we waiting for? Christmas?" Raph questioned, pounding a fist into his palm with a grin on his face. "Time to beat up some Kraang butt!"

"But what about alt-dimension Donnie?" Mikey asked, his voice strangely laced with concern. "I mean, he's like the strongest of us four now. Maybe we're gonna need his help – "

Raph cut him short with a sharp smack to the back of his head.

"Can it, Shell-For-Brains! The jerk's finally left our home and he's probably crawling back to whichever dimension he came from! We can do just fine without him, right, Leo?"

Raph caught me off guard. I really didn't know what to reply. On one hand, Raph's right about Donatello's behavior and all and that we don't need it. On the other, I gotta admit that Mikey had a point when he said that Donatello had become the strongest member of our team. If he even considered us his teammates in the first place, that is.

Man, what would Captain Ryan do?

"We don't really have the time to discuss this now, do we?" I can't believe I actually sounded a bit harsh there. "April's waiting for us and the Kraang are up to their usual 'mutate every human in sight' thing again. Don't you see we have worse things to worry about?"

My brothers gave me uneasy looks before they both nodded. We then armed ourselves with our weapons, said our goodbyes to Sensei and left for the warehouse April had told me about.

/

OK. Things had just gone from bad to worse pretty fast.

There were more of the Kraangdroids than what we had anticipated. How many more? Well, let's say we were dealing with, oh I'm not sure. A hundred of them? Give or take a few.

No, seriously! There's too many of them and I can see that my brothers and I are gonna have our shells handed to us yet again. I've already told April to call in some back-up, AKA the police, and that's what we were practically waiting for and reason why we were still facing the Kraangdroids and their energy guns.

Before I knew it, a volley of energy bullets had sent my katana flying out of my hands and off to who-knows-where. Disarmed and vulnerable, I flipped and danced my way through the enemy fire, only to unsuspectingly fall into the hands of two Kraangdroids.

"Kraang, we have captured the leader of the ones who call themselves the turtles," I heard one of them speak their weird way of speaking. "The other ones who call themselves the turtles are captured as well."

My younger brothers were brought to either of my sides, also held back by Kraangdroids. Raph was to my left and growling like an angry dog while Mikey was to my right and looking pretty much scared.

"Don't worry, guys," I whispered to them, "April's gonna come back with some back-up and then we make our great escape."

And as if on cue, a Kraangdroid entered the fray with a struggling April in its arms. Instantly, all hope of getting out of here alive deflated like a worn-out bounce castle.

"Kraang, this female human was caught trying to call for what I believe is help for the ones who call themselves the turtles," it informed.

"Can't you bucketheads learn how to speak simple English?" April complained and we had to restrain ourselves from laughing.

"Silence!" One Kraangdroid ordered, possibly the leader in this situation. "Prepare the Energy Cannon! The female human and the ones who call themselves the turtles will be dealt with as soon as possible!"

The four of us were brought together, relieved of any other weapon we had hidden and chained up tightly. The Kraang really didn't want us to get away with it this time. Then, the Energy Cannon was positioned right in front of us and was all prepped up to fire when…

"Kraang, an unidentified flying object was spotted heading to this warehouse."

The leader Kraangdroid came up to this large computer screen that showed a live-feed video. It was about what looks like a Channel 6 News helicopter zooming closer to the warehouse. We all gasped when we saw who was piloting the helicopter. It was Donatello!

"So, the Purple One decides to join in," the leader Kraangdroid hissed acidly and I'm sure he would've grinned nastily if his metal face would allow it. "Kraang, change of plans. Fire the Energy Cannon first at the Purple One and his flying object."

To our horror, the part of the roof above the Energy Cannon gave way for the massive thing to rise up and poke out of the warehouse. Then, it began shooting out beams of pink energy and the helicopter in the screen swerved about rapidly, dodging the beams as best as it can. That was until one beam came in contact with the area near the propeller and this sent the whole object ablaze. We could see Donatello struggling inside, but he seemed rather weird 'cause there's something holding him back. And right before our very eyes, the helicopter exploded.

Along with our would-be savior and our last chance of getting out of this joint alive.

I could tell that April was crying a bit and I feel sorry that she had to see that. Raph was snarling and thrashing about, shouting empty threats at our captors. And Mikey? I guess he's pretty much in shock, just like me at the moment being. All I could do was stare at the computer screen with eyes the size of dinner plates as the Energy Cannon was brought back in and aimed at us again.

"Any last words, turtles and their human friend?" I heard the leader Kraangdroid say.

We all stared at the Energy Cannon's ready nozzle in despair, prepared to get flambéed. Was this how it's going to end? I seriously thought that the ending was gonna be more dramatic than this one.

Shell, I'm gonna miss my favorite episode of _Space Heroes_.

"_BANZAI_!" Echoed a deafening yell from above.

Wait. From above?

/

The warehouse's skylight collapsed as a green blur came crashing down, kicking up an unhealthy volume of dust as it landed, distorting everyone's vision and making the turtles and their human friend cough and gag. Just then, Leonardo felt something zip right past his face and the Kraangdroid behind him fell to the ground with a loud thud.

…And with a _hoko_ sticking out of its sparking head.

Soon, Kraangdroids dropped to the ground like stones, impaled by a variety of bladed weapons that the turtles were definitely familiar with. Alarmed, the remaining Kraangdroids readied their energy guns and aimed them at the center of the dust cloud.

"Oi, oi!" Exclaimed a familiar, know-it-all voice. "You _gaki _forgot to invite me to a Kraang-bustin' party! After saving your sorry shells from the Foot, this is how you treat me?"

When the dust settled, the identity of the party crasher was revealed and yet again, the ninja mutants could only stare in awe.

"What is this?" The leader Kraangdroid questioned from out of the blue.

"Oh? This?" Donatello began, a smirk plastered on his face as he briefly glanced at the multitude of traditional Japanese weapons strapped to his carapace and fanned out like a peacock's tail. "A little something I learned from my field trip through time."

Still smirking, the disfigured turtle clenched a katana by its handle with his teeth while he pulled out an _ono_ and another katana from the mass on his back.

"_Shinobi no Hijutsu: Senken Kujaku no Kuroenbu_."

**A/N**

**And that marks the end of the regular updating periods. Why? 'Cause on next Thursday, I'll be heading back to Hell On Earth AKA high school! Yes, I am still in high school. A Junior to be exact. DDDDX**

**Still suffering from the Christmas Hangover. I mean, who wouldn't when you've feasted on several counts of different, yet equally mouth-watering, pasta, fruit cocktail and oh so sweet Chocolate Mousse? LOL.**

**Dunno why I started writing in POVs. It ain't really a strength of mine 'cause I might get the character a bit OOC when I'm writing his/her POV on the wave of events and stuff. I especially dreaded alt-dimension Donnie's POV since it was SO long, though I had some fun writing the bloody parts down. I'm kinda sadistic, see. XDD BD**

**I apologize for much cussing. Seriously, I had to put all those bad words in to "emphasize" alt-dimension Donnie's emotion.**

**A two-chapter update with an exceptionally long chapter is my belated Christmas gift to all of you, my dear readers. :D**

**Japanese Vocab Corner**

"_Banzai!"_** – "Hooray!", but in this case, is used similarly to Mikey's "Booyakasha!".**

_Hoko_** – A traditional Japanese weapon that looks like a bo with a sai on top and comes in variants.**

_Ono_** – A Japanese battle axe that requires immense strength to lift, even with two hands.**

"_Shinobi no Hijutsu: Senken Kujaku no Kuroenbu"_** – Translates into "Secret Art of the Spy: Black Dance of the Thousand Blades Peacock".**

**Alt-dimension Donnie's special ability to wield numerous weapons was referenced from Kurotabou, one of the many **_**youkai**_**, or Japanese spirit monsters, from the anime **_**Nurarihyon No Mago**_**. He takes the form of a warrior monk with long, black hair and hides 200 different traditional weapons underneath his kimono. Yup, he's THAT cool. XDDD X3X **


	8. Dance Of The Peacock

**Disclaimer: I do not own TMNT 2012.**

Raphael had to admit, the jerk version of his late little brother looked absolutely menacing right now.

Donatello stood regal and tall despite the array of weapons he carried. Four, thick leather belts strapped his artillery securely to his scarred carapace, two of them streaking diagonally and intersecting at the center of his plastron and at his carapace while the other two ran horizontally, one on his chest and the other on his waist. What's more, all of his belts had little pockets to hold shuriken, _kunai_, smoke bombs, _manrikigusari_ and many other small-scale equipment he brought with him. As for his weapons, they ranged from several sheathed katana to different variants of _yari _to heavy-looking _kanabo_. Light, spiky armor plating padded his arms and legs.

"Woah," April breathed out and her mutant friends nodded in agreement.

"You are lucky to have escaped the explosion of your flying object due to Kraang's Energy Cannon," the leader Kraangdroid started, "yet you have escaped the explosion of you flying object due to Kraang's Energy Cannon to only fall into a death of excruciating pain made by – "

"Kraang this. Kraang that," Donatello managed to mock even with the katana his teeth chomped on. "Geez, now I remember how boring you _teme_ are. Even in this dimension, you're really that stupid in speaking simple English?"

"Kraang finds your comment about Kraang of much insult for Kraang – "

"Would you just shut the shell up and make your move already?"

Anger was not etched on the metal faces of their robots, but the malevolent aura the Kraang radiated off was incredibly impossible to miss. Squeezing the triggers of their energy guns so tight that they might get stuck in, the Kraangdroids rained down energy bullets at the purple-masked turtle who used the weapons he had armed himself with, including the katana in his mouth, to deflect the deadly projectiles.

The multitude of weapons he bore gave everyone the same conclusion: That they restricted his movements and rendered him as slow as the average, non-mutated turtle. So it surprised everybody when he started to jump and prance around to dodge the energy bullets, as if he weren't carrying enough weapons on his carapace to arm an entire samurai battalion. Donatello moved with fluid grace, his artillery ringing in time with his actions. Nimbly, he made his way toward the Kraangdroids and brought down his _ono_ on the nearest one, leaving it embedded in the artificial body. With his hand now free, he produced a few shuriken from one of his chest belt's many pockets and with skilled precision rivaling even that of Splinter's, lobbed them at the Kraangdroids, all making their mark on spots that were vital on ordinary humans.

"Donatello, watch out!" Leonardo cried when he saw one Kraangdroid come in too close.

The alt-dimension brainiac turned his head to him, the katana in his mouth arching sideways and successfully decapitating aforementioned enemy in the process.

"Mmph?" He sputtered out for he had his teeth clenched tightly on his sword's handle.

Leo and the others just sweatdropped as the beheaded Kraangdroid collapsed into a heap of metal limbs on the floor.

"Nevermind."

Nodding, the disfigured turtle brought out a smoke bomb and threw it at the mob before approaching his allies. A swift, downward stroke with the katana in his hand and the chain that restrained the ninja mutants and April fell to the floor. All four staggered to their feet and stretched to spread their blood's circulation throughout their slightly numb bodies.

"I can't believe I actually feel fine about saying this," Raphael muttered, rubbing the back of his head, "but thanks."

"Don't mention it," Donatello waved off, then handed the turtles some of his weapons. "Take these. Use them for the moment being."

With grateful nods, they accepted the artillery loaned to them. Their leader, on the other hand, was hesitant at first to take the pair of katana presented to him, especially since one of them had been gripped by something other than the hand…

"Haha! Leo's afraid to get alt-dimension Donnie's slobber on him!" Michelangelo teased.

Before the blue-masked turtle can fume at his baby brother, Donatello interrupted with a soft chuckle.

"Nothing to worry about, Leonardo," he said, the usual irritated tone in his voice strangely absent. "I don't actually drool a lot. Not as much as Michelangelo when he's asleep, though."

"Hey!" Came the expected retort, making him laugh a bit.

Now at that, Leonardo, Raphael, Michelangelo and April stared at him with wide eyes. Had the ever stoic, ill-tempered version of the deceased brainiac just cracked a joke? And laughed at it, too? Donatello instantly stopped sniggering when he noticed the stares he received.

"What? Was it something I said?"

An energy bullet cut through the rather awkward moment. Literally. The four turtles quickly took their stances around April, forming a defensive circle with their human companion barricaded in the center.

"April, think you can take charge of their Energy Cannon?" It was Donatello who asked, somehow looking over his shoulder, past his weapons and at her.

The girl raised an eyebrow at the strange question. Nonetheless, she nodded.

"Good. We'll cover for you while you make your way to it." The alt-dimension brainiac then pointed to a mountain of crates nearby. "When I give you the signal, you shoot those crates. Got it?"

Another, yet unsure, nod. At this, he smirked as he watched the Kraangdroids advance further towards them from the gray cloud his smoke bomb had caused.

"Kraang will have revenge on the ones who call themselves the turtles!" The leader Kraangdroid declared, its monotone voice laced ever so slightly with irritation.

"Well, the ones who call themselves the Kraang should start moving instead of blabbering around, shouldn't they?" Leo challenged.

As a response, the enemies began shooting furiously again. The turtles charged in, distracting the Kraangdroids and giving April the chance to advance towards the Energy Cannon. Amidst the confusion, Leonardo found himself back-to-back with the more mature-thinking version of his second youngest brother.

"Hey!" He hollered at him as he fended off the Kraangdroids on his side. "About your _Senken Kujaku no Kuroenbu_…where'd you learn it from?"

"My trip through space and time sent me hurtling through different time periods as well as dimensions," Donatello grunted, twirling the _yari_ he had armed himself with then skewering a few Kraangdroids with it. "Some guy taught it to me when I landed in Feudal Japan and I was surprised – "

"YOU'VE BEEN TO JAPAN IN ITS FEUDAL ERA?"

"Oh, that? Yeah. Spent about ten months of my time there. I saw the _hijutsu_ to be a pain and quite troublesome at first, but it saved my life when I battled Dimension 1034's Shredder – "

The brainiac stopped himself before he could fully give away the fruits of his interdimensional escapade. He turned slightly to the blue-masked turtle to see him heavily distracted with the numerous enemies he was dealing with and sighed in relief.

'_That was a close call.'_

Inhaling deeply, the multi-weaponed warrior separated from Leonardo, giving himself more room to swing his _yari_ about and to scan the area for the other turtles. Raphael's thrilled, and not to mention rather colorful, battle cries echoed throughout the warehouse, and just by hearing them, he could tell that NYC's resident hotheaded mutant was more than happy to finally beat the living daylight out of the Kraang. A distance to his right, Michelangelo took out his fair share of Kraangdroids with growing difficulty, his left arm limp and to his side.

"MIKEY!" Donatello couldn't help but call out in worry.

Leaving his _yari_ still pierced through an enemy, he pulled out a _manrikigusari _from one of his waist belt's pockets and with it, yanked a Kraangdroid close to him. He then dashed through the skirmish, using the metal body as a shield against the energy bullets.

"Michelangelo, what's wrong with your left arm?" He asked once he reached his youngest ally and dropped his shield.

The orange-masked turtle gave him a skeptical look at first, but then complied and showed him his limp limb. There was an unnatural bulge in his forearm, tender and swollen.

"I got smashed into the wall hard earlier and it received most of the force. I think it's broken or something."

Carefully, the alt-dimension brainiac took and felt his arm, apologizing earnestly when he heard Mikey wince.

"You're right, it's broken," he concluded, then fumbled his belts' pockets. "No bandages? _Chikuso_! I knew I forgot something!"

"Relax, dude," Mikey cooed, "it's gonna heal over time. We're mutants remember?"

"Still, we're not taking any chances. I gotta splint it so that it would repair normally."

Sighing, the disfigured turtle brought out two _kunai_ and set one on either side of the fractured area, positioning them so that they wouldn't cut Michelangelo. Then, he untied his bandanna mask, wrapped it around the area to secure the _kunai_ and knotted it over the nunchaku wielder's neck, forming a makeshift arm sling.

"There, that should do it," he said with a small smile, "but be careful and don't move your arm around too much. You might rip the sling and the dressing. I'm gonna make you a more appropriate sling when we get back to the lair, OK?"

Mikey was gazing at Donatello's exposed face. As with his body, there were scars on his face, the one slanting between his eyes and extending to his right cheek being the most prominent of them. But what really stunned the youngest of the ninja mutants was the lack of the fierce, angry blaze in his burgundy eyes which now held a warm, caring spark in them, one similar to that of his deceased elder brother's.

"Uh, Michelangelo?" The brainiac questioned, effectively snapping him out of his daze.

"Hmm? Yeah, yeah, OK," Mikey replied with a sheepish nod, then noticed the looming threat shadowing over them. "Donnie, look out!"

But Donatello had long sensed it. He quickly spun around and stabbed a _senbon_ each into the Kraangdroid's right eye, the left side of its neck, the right side of its abdomen, groin and left ankle. With the connection to its mechanical body severed and malfunctioning, the unfortunate Kraang had no other choice but to abandon ship and flee from the scene, whimpering like a frightened puppy.

"Dude! That was AWESOME!" Mikey exclaimed, patting the brainiac's left shoulder with his good arm. "What's that move called? Can you teach it to me?"

"_Goten Kougeki_," Donatello simply stated, "and I just might, but for a cost."

"I'll give you anything!"

"I want your share of pizza for two months."

"…"

"Ha! Knew it! Too scared to part with your precious pizza, aren't you?"

"No, wait! Lemme think about it. How about for one month?"

"A month and a half."

"Three weeks. I'll even throw in my pizza gyoza!"

"Eh? Deal!"

/

'_Note to self: When on a hunt for the Kraang, bring helpful equipment. A LOT of helpful equipment.'_

April managed to make it to the Energy Cannon, but not without a few Kraangdroids noticing her. After pulling out the _hoko_ impaling a nearby fallen enemy and remembering those days when she auditioned for majorette in her school's marching band, she struck the incoming Kraangdroids with all the strength she could muster.

"Need any help, Ape?" Raphael inquired, landing by her side and taking out the Kraangdroids for her.

"Yup! Thanks, Raph!" The girl expressed and came to the Energy Cannon's controls, _hoko _still in hand.

"You know how to handle that thing?"

"Uh-huh. I've been watching how the Kraang worked this thing when they shot down Donnie's helicopter."

She gripped the control board's only joystick and pressed the red button on top of it. As soon as she did so, the Energy Cannon shot out a bright pink beam at the mob of Kraangdroids, proving her knowledge over it correct and unfortunately, gaining unwanted attention from the enemies.

"They've seen us!" Raph gasped, then glared accusingly at his human friend. "Thanks a lot!"

"Hehe…just returning the favor?" April mumbled shamefacedly as the red-masked turtle dived back into action. "Hey, Donnie! I'm ready to rock and roll!"

"That's great!" Donatello shouted back meters away. "Wait for my signal!"

The brainiac pushed his way through the sea of metal bodies, lodging his weapons into those who tried to block him. An energy bullet had hit his right shoulder, but he rushed on, barely registering the burning sensation it left. Now just three feet away from the mountain of crates he had pointed at earlier, he conjured a few small, black pellets from one of his chest belt's pockets and threw them at the crates. Seeing the deed done, he then dashed away as fast as he can.

"TURTLES, FALL BACK!" He roared, heading hurriedly towards the exit. "APRIL, NOW!"

The girl again pressed the joystick's button but to her dismay, nothing happened.

"Nothing's happening," she mumbled, "Donnie, nothing's happening!"

Just then, the Kraangdroid had their holds on her wrists. April tried to break away when the leader Kraangdroid gripped her jaw roughly and forced her to look into its emotionless eyes.

"You are a pain in my ass," it hissed.

"AND I'M GLAD TO SEE YOU'RE LEARNING ENGLISH!"

Donatello jumped, thrusting his _kunai_ into the leader Kraangdroid's head. Using his _kanabo_, he bashed away at the other robots, freeing April.

"Whatcha waiting for, _shoujou_?" He asked, panting.

"I don't know! The cannon just won't work! I think it's malfunctioning or something – "

She was interrupted when the alt-dimension brainiac smashed his _kanabo_ onto the Energy Cannon's control board full-forcedly.

"OK, now it's malfunctioned."

"But now, we have nothing to worry about how to blow this place sky-high! Come on, April!"

Before she had the chance to question him, he had scooped her into his arms and started to run again, carrying her bridal style. Behind them, the Energy Cannon began to spark and jerk, pink rivulets of static energy gathering in its core. Just as the turtles and their human companion exit the warehouse, said structure exploded in a shade of neon pink, taking with it more than a hundred Kraangdroids and countless crates of Mutagen. The force of the blast sent the five on their bellies to the ground with their hands on their heads.

"Wow," it was Michelangelo who spoke up, "that sure was a 'blast'!"

His companions just grumbled and shook their heads as they got up.

"What? No more 'bang' left in ya?"

"Would you just stop it, Mikey?" Raphael growled, dusting himself. "Your puns are getting on our nerves. And we already have to stand your presence!"

"Whoa, Raph! Chill! No need to 'blow up' now!"

"I'LL SHOW YOU A 'BLOW UP'!"

Before the sai wielder could, however, Donatello had come in between the two, a stern look on his face.

"Enough of this! You _gaki_ are causing to much noise for our already sensitive ears," he chided, "Raphael, leave Michelangelo alone for the time being. It would be troublesome for you to break his fractured arm further."

Raph looked behind the brainiac and at his baby brother. Sure enough, his left arm was in a sling that was…purple?

And that was when everyone except Mikey noticed Donatello's mask-less, scarred face.

"I forgot to bring bandages, OK?" He reasoned, blushing a bit. "I had no other choice. Besides, the sooner Shellbrain heals, the sooner we can play 'Does Mikey Bend That Way?'."

"That sounds good to me," Raph waved off, smiling at the idea of his favorite game.

Michelangelo visibly paled as he swallowed the lump in his throat.

"Now, let's go home before the police get here," the disfigured turtle said with a sigh, "and…I got something I wanna admit…"

"What is it?" Leonardo inquired.

Donatello stopped in his tracks and faced the turtles and the girl with warm, burgundy eyes.

"I've not been entirely…honest with you guys."

**A/N**

**WAAAAAAAAAH! Sorry for the late update! I have quarterly exams that I need to bust and my folks had their eyes on me while I studied!**

**OK, so I have a reason why I only added in one new chapter. The next part is gonna be like a flashback since alt-dimension Donnie's gonna tell everyone the real story of his past. Better watch out for that one! ;)**

**Alt-dimension Donnie's **_**Senken Kujaku no Kuroenbu **_**was also partially inspired by the part in the TMNT 2007 Movie where Leo got armed with multiple swords and stuff! BADASS!**

**This would probably be the last time I'll ever write the Kraang in. I mean, those guys are just so hard to depict with their bad English!**

**Japanese Vocab Corner**

_Kunai_** – Japanese throwing dagger, usually has a hole on the end of its handle so that one can tie a rope through it.**

_Manrikigusari_** – A chain, usually five feet or more in length, with a weight each on both ends and can be used as some sort of bolas.**

_Yari_** – A spear that can come in variants.**

_Kanabo_** – A Japanese heavy club, can be spiked on the hitting end.**

_Senbon_** – Acupuncture needles that are used in battle to pierce an enemy's pressure points and/or small, vital areas like the jugular, the eyes, the groin, etc.**

"_Goten Kougeki"_** – Translates into "Five-Point Attack".**

**Hey, has anyone noticed that in alt-dimension Donnie's flashback in Chapter 6, his Raph wounded him on the same area where alt-dimension Donnie said in Chapter 3 that the Foot did instead? **


	9. The Flashback Part 1

**Disclaimer: I do not own TMNT 2012.**

As he sat there, on the living room floor with five pairs of eyes staring at him so intently that he could've melted like an ice cube under the heat of not one but FIVE suns, Donatello couldn't help but tremble a bit.

April, Splinter and Michelangelo, who had his left arm in a proper cast and sling, had taken their places on the couch, with the old rat in between the two teenagers, while Raphael opted to stand behind said furniture with arms folded across his plastron. Leonardo had settled on the steps with one knee pulled up, his chin resting on top of it. All five were gazing at the disfigured turtle on the center of the living room floor, waiting for him to start his little "story-telling", as Mikey called it.

Still, Donatello felt utterly uneasy and vulnerable. Especially with his purple bandanna mask suspended around his neck like a neckerchief and his scarred face exposed for everyone to see.

"We haven't got all day, genius," it was Raphael who broke the awkward silence, tapping the floor rhythmically with his foot. "Ya gonna spit it out or not?"

"Just…wait, will you?" The alt-dimension brainiac barked, glaring at the hothead. "It ain't actually that easy to let it all out. It's a rough trip down memory lane and unfortunately, I ain't really got a lot of good memories to recall."

He breathed in deeply and heaved the air out as a heavy sigh. Running his right hand through an invisible mass of hair, he began with a question.

"I take it that you aren't familiar with the concepts of alternate dimensions?"

His audience shook their heads.

"Thought so. You see, when you ask yourself a certain question, say 'What am I going to do for today?', you are presented with an infinite amount of answers, choices, decisions. It is said that each decision has a corresponding outcome, whether positive or negative, that may have an impact on life as we know it. Now, you pick one of these decisions and everything goes along with it. But have you ever asked yourself about what would happen if you had picked another decision instead of this one?

"I had once pondered about this. My theory is that with every decision, with every choice a sentient being could ever think of, there is a matching occurrence to it wherein everything is affected by it. In other words, every choice would lead to a different road down a life or in a familiar term, to a different DIMENSION. And since only ONE being alone can be presented with an INFINITE value of choices to at least ONE question in his-slash-her entire life, the dimensions present in all of space-time continuum are of an INFINITE number."

Again, he inhaled and exhaled, giving his listeners time to process what he had just said.

"So…" Michelangelo drawled out, a thoughtful expression on his face, much to the brainiac's surprise. "Is there a dimension where I'm the leader of the team and not Leo?"

The looks on his brothers', his friend's and his adoptive father's faces were ones of absolute shock and horror.

"Yes, there is, sadly," Donatello's reply tensed the lair's current ambience even more, "I pity everybody in that nightmarish dimension. Including Shredder."

"That horrible, huh?" Leonardo questioned and the more mature counterpart of his late brother just nodded.

Mikey resorted to pout at their reactions.

"And what does your little science lecture have to do with everything that's going on?" Raphael pointed out, shaking off the image of Shellheaded-Mikey-the-leader-of-four-fifteen-year-old-ninja-mutants.

"Remember THAT incident with your Donatello?" The alt-dimension brainiac received solemn nods. "Well, my dimension branched out from that event and instead of me, it was Leo who got hit."

He expected the gasps then proceeded to briefly describe how his eldest brother rushed in and protected him from the Foot's shuriken, getting badly injured in the process.

"The blow on us was severe and everything went down hill pretty fast," he continued, "Raph was losing his grip on his temper and even Mikey rarely smiled. Sensei prohibited us from going topside until Leo was fully recovered and he told April to stay away from us for a while since he thought of her as a distraction from our training.

"I knew I had to do something to get it all back on the right track. So I decided to use the Time-and-Space Jumper to change what had happened that night, to fix everything. But the TSJ was yet to be completed so it malfunctioned and sent me on a rollercoaster ride through different time periods, dimensions and even null-rifts, gaps where time and space have not or have yet to collide."

"But you said that you fixed your TSJ," April mentioned.

"Yeah, I did manage to get it up and running," Donatello confirmed as he sighed and hung his head, "however, when I got back to my home dimension, all hell broke loose."

…

_Floating in the slate gray void that was the null-rift, I punched in the coordinates of my dimension, as eager to get home as a little boy waiting for his gift on Christmas Day. The TSJ in my hands hummed softly and it shot out that familiar lime green beam, the portal to my dimension opening right in front of me shortly afterwards. I should've checked the date the TSJ depicted, the exact time of my return to that dimension, but my thoughts lingered to the family I have left behind. I found myself rubbing the scar on my left arm. I'll surely forgive Raph for wounding me, knowing that his temper got the best of him that time. Gathering courage, I stepped out of the null-rift, through the portal…_

…_and into pitch black._

_I squinted through the darkness as the portal closed behind me. Where the shell was I? Slightly disturbed and coughing due to the dusty atmosphere, I fumbled the inside of my duffel bag, brought out the much-needed flashlight once I had my hold on it and turned it on, letting it illuminate on what was in front of me._

_Junk. Piles of scrap metal and other trash littered the floor of the room I was in, as if a hurricane had paid a visit. To my right was a piece of furniture and I turned to it, seeing it to be an unmade bed that was split into two down the middle. Hang on. I recognize those light bulb-designed bedsheets. Fear settled in the pit in of my stomach and I shined the light on the walls. Sure enough, they were decorated with posters of scientists and inventors, some still in one piece, others in shreds._

_This was my bedroom. Or what was left of it._

_I sucked in air sharply, the dust in it throwing me into a coughing fit. Gasping, I made my way through the junk, opened the door and exited my bedroom, only to be greeted with an unwelcoming sight._

_The lair, the entire lair, was in shambles. The couch was overturned…the TV had been thrown across the room and left as an irreparable heap of wires and parts…the tire swing missing from its suspension…a training dummy sticking out of the dojo's sliding door and its cotton innards scattered everywhere…moonlight emanating through a considerable hole in the ceiling…a horrid stench originating from the kitchen…_

_It was as if Katrina itself took the liberty to stop by and raid the whole establishment._

_Footsteps snapped me out of my daze so I hid in the shadows above the lair entrance. Arming myself with a kunai, I waited until the intruder was right under me then landed behind him-slash-her, pressing my blade against his-slash-her throat with a growl._

"_Who the shell are you and what have you done to my home?"_

_I heard a quick intake of breath. The intruder seemed to relax under my tight grip on his-slash-her shoulder before speaking in a voice I knew all too well._

"_D-Donnie? Is that you?"_

_Throwing the kunai the kunai to the side, I turned the intruder to face me. I felt my heart skip a beat. Standing before me was the girl I had fallen for, except that under moonlight, I could see the wrinkles on her face and a few gray streaks in her mow pale orange hair._

_It was April! _

"_April!" I half-squealed in both surprise and joy, hugging her. "Boy, am I glad to see you! You won't believe what I've seen and been through. What's with the wrinkles and stuff? You got a role as an old lady in your school's play or something?"_

_I wanted her to laugh and joke at my question. I really did because I felt that there was something wrong. And the lost look in her sky blue eyes confirmed my suspicion. Gently, she pushed herself out of my embrace and faced me again, giving me a rather sad smile._

"_God, Donnie…it really is you!" She said, tears in her eyes. "Where have you been all this time? We've been searching for you far and – "_

"_What…are you talking about, April? What happened?" I heard my voice crack under the overwrought pressure in the atmosphere that felt oh so wrong._

_Her answer would've knocked me dead if I never knew how to handle emotional stress in the first place._

"_You've been gone, Donnie. For nearly thirty years."_

…

"Dude, you haven't been home for thirty years?" Mikey asked, leaning forward. "How's that even possible?"

"It's quite simple, really," Donatello replied, a slightly bitter tone in his voice. "If ever an inhabitant of a certain dimension would find himself in a different dimension or trapped in a null-rift and then somehow figure out a way back to his home dimension, he'll be in one hell of a dilemma. His home dimension would consider him as an alien, a foreigner and wouldn't let him in because he has particles from another dimension on him. Kinda like foreign contaminants and such. These tiny suckers alone can distort the collision of time and space in his home dimension and then terminate it and everything in it from existence."

"But you've been from an interdimensional run," Leo stated, eye ridges furrowed, "and that doesn't make sense. How is it that you were able to return to your home dimension?"

"Good question, Leonardo," the disfigured turtle praised with a quick clap of his hands. "I have discovered that the portals my TSJ opens are like…uh…carwashes. When one passes through my TSJ's portal, he is instantly cleansed by the time he makes it to the other side since the energy that cuts through temporal and spacial qualities somehow eradicates 99.99% of the foreign contaminants and this extra factor allowed me to return to my home dimension.

"However, my TSJ can only permit ONE route back per specific dimension, meaning that once you've left a dimension you've previously returned to, you can never go back to it again. Plus, the 0.01% of foreign contaminants left on you is enough to disrupt the flow of time, either slowing it down or speeding it up. I have yet to determine why this is so. Besides, what the TSJ does, cutting deliberately through temporal-spacial attributes, practically bends the laws of how one should perceive time and space continuum."

"Wow…you figured all this out by yourself?" April mumbled in disbelief. "Donnie, you could get a Nobel Prize for this!"

"I don't think that scientists are willing to give such a prestigious award to a being they themselves wish to experiment on," Donatello sighed, yet flashed the girl a small smile, "but thanks for thinking like that, anyway. I really appreciate it. Now…on with the story, shall we?"

…

"_Huh…what?" The words were stuck to my throat like bubblegum on the underside of a sidewalk bench. "Three d-decades…? You…you gotta be kidding me, Ape. It really…ain't that long…is it?"_

_Panic had me in its twisted grasp as I pulled out my trusty TSJ from my duffel bag. Turning it on, I tapped in a few strings of commands and the date of my return came on screen. What I read made my blood run cold._

_August 8, 2042. Almost thirty years since my departure from my home dimension._

_Trembling wildly, I fell to my knees, as if the weight of thirty years was suddenly dropped on my shoulders. I looked at the rubbish-strewn floor blankly for a while before lifting my gaze back to April. I forced my mouth to spit out the question I knew I'd regret to receive an answer for._

"_My family…how have they been…?"_

_The girl – no – the woman before me crouched down to my level, her tired, sky blue eyes never breaking their sight away from my watery, burgundy ones._

"_They're…fine," she replied, her soothing voice barely above a whisper. "Leo and Raph had a terrible fight several years back. After that, they've went their separate ways, travelling far from here and living their own lives alone. Nonetheless, both tend to visit every once in a while, though when they'd see each other's faces, they'd try to rip one another's throats. Mikey's…doing well. He stays with me now and actually helps a lot with my…work. But he never smiles nor laughs again, ever since you disappeared."_

"_A-And what about Master Splinter?"_

_I saw her cringe a bit and I really wasn't sure if I wanted to hear her out. She bit her bottom lip and stood up straight, holding out her hand to me._

"_Come on. I have…something to show you," she said._

_Reluctantly, I took the outstretched offer and soon found myself being led through the sewers. Looks like April knew every nook and cranny in the underground system. That cheered me up a bit. After some time, she stopped abruptly in her tracks, though, and I bumped lightly into her._

"_Sorry about that," I murmured, my cheeks on fire._

"_No biggie," she waved off, then pointed to something above us. "Would you mind raising that up for me? It's actually a whole lot easier for me to pull it out from the outside rather than to push it out from the inside."_

_Puzzled, I turned to the object of question, only to see it was just the sewer lid. With my face heating up, I climbed up the handle bars and effortlessly moved it from its place and set it aside. Then, I ascended from the manhole, turning back to it to hoist April out._

"_Thanks," she stated, dusting herself._

"_Your welcome," I answered as I looked around me. "April, where are we?"_

_There was garbage everywhere. In three-stories-tall heaps, piles barely a foot in height and shell, even in colorful layers carpeting the ground. Not to mention that it absolutely stinks here! I'm guessing we're in some kind of dump…_

"_We're in a garbage dump a few kilometers from New York," came the unmistakable answer._

_Knew it. I just had to ask the obvious._

"_Why are we here, Ape? I don't see anything else but mounds of trash. Does Sensei live here now?"_

_She didn't reply. Instead, she was looking at something somewhere. I followed her gaze and gasped at what I saw. At a distance from us was a full-sized mature weeping willow, slightly bent at the trunk and its curtain of leaves touching what I believed was bare ground. Its leafy curtain was thick since I couldn't even make out a silhouette of what was behind it._

"_He's in there, Donnie," April mumbled, a strange, sad tone in her voice. "Go see him."_

_Nodding, I hesitantly slipped my hand out of hers and began walking towards the willow._

"_Master Splinter? Master Splinter!" I called out, my lips tugging into a small smile. "It's me, Sensei! Donatello! I've come back!"_

_There was no answer, no movement from behind the leaves. The uneasy feeling that was nipping at the back of my mind turned into full-blown fear now and before I knew it, I was dashing across the dump, my voice echoing back at me as I shouted._

"_Sensei! I'm here now! Sorry for making you wait so long! SENSEI!"_

_I reached the willow, breathless, but I didn't stop for a quick rest. I pushed my way through the thick leafy curtain._

"Otousan! Tadaima, Otousan! Tadai – "

_My father's image flashed in my mind before I realized I was staring at a tombstone._

**A/N**

**Not much of an Author's Note now. Don't wanna pull you away from taking in the flashback! :D**

**Japanese Vocab Corner**

_Otousan_** – Father.**

"_Tadaima!"_** – "I'm home!", but can also mean "I have come back!".**

**Really loved adding that little cliffy there. LOL. XP XDDDD**


	10. The Flashback Part 2

**Disclaimer: I do not own TMNT 2012.**

A tear trickled Donatello's cheek and he furiously wiped it away with the back of his arm, wincing when the burn on his right shoulder screamed at him. Splinter gazed at him sadly from his place on the couch. The others were as good as shocked.

"W-What?" Raphael stuttered, leaning on the headrest of the couch. "B-But…how?"

Donatello just stared blankly at the floor.

"We're getting there."

…

_I fell on my rump in front of the mound. It was definitely a grave._

_My father's grave._

"_Here lies Hamato Yoshi. A friend. A teacher. A father," I read the inscriptions on the tombstone out loud. "March 25, 2014."_

_Just…a little near two years after I left?_

_Tears were cascading down my face like waterfalls. Even with all of that time I spent learning from my inopportune visits to time periods and other dimensions…even with all the knowledge and experience I've acquired…I still couldn't prevent my family from falling apart…I didn't do anything to keep my brothers from fighting each other…or save my father from the hands of Death…nor were I there in his final moments alive…_

_He died without seeing me for the last time._

_Through my sobs, I heard the rustling of leaves behind me and I knew it was April who came and placed a hand on my shoulder._

"_H-How, April?" I managed to spit out. "H-How…did he…?"_

"_It was Shredder, Donnie," she answered, a trace of anger in her words. "He raided the lair some twenty-eight years back, along with hundreds of Foot ninja. They trashed your home, blinded Raph's left eye and crippled Leo's right leg for good. Splinter forced your brothers out of the sewers. When we came back two weeks later, we found him…mangled and…ripped and…God, it was horrible. We buried him here, back when this great willow was a little taller than Mikey. Five years after that, Leo and Raph split up and Mikey came to live with me in my aunt's apartment."_

_I had tuned her out after she said the first sentence. So it was that _teme_'s doing. The sorrow inside me gave way for red-hot anger to blaze and fog my mind. Regaining control of myself, I inhaled and exhaled, suppressing the wild flame into a tame spark. For now._

"_April, how did Shredder – "_

"_When you were gone, Donnie, everything just…fell apart. You were the one who provided us with your gadgets and electronics and repaired them when they refused to work. You kept things in check with the underground security system you had spread all throughout the sewers and even in certain places above ground. When any of us got injured or sick, you took the role as the resident medic and healed us back to perfect health. You were also the peacekeeper and the voice of reason whenever an argument broke out in the family. Without you, life had been tough for all of us. When Shredder sent his Foot to attack us or when it was our turn to strike back, it would take us several months afterwards before we could fully recover. That's why when Shredder assaulted the lair, we were defeated effortlessly and Splinter was taken from us. Next thing we knew, he had New York and the entire world under his control and joined forces with the Kraang."_

_As I listened to her, the tame spark in me burned brighter and fiercer with the resentment and guilt that gnawed away at my very core. What I tried so hard to fix…I only made it turn for the worst with my thirty-year-long absence. As I sat there, cross-legged, I felt my hands clench into tight fists._

"_With Leo and Raph away, I knew I had to take action," my friend continued, "so Mikey and I formed a coalition with all of the people who managed to escape Shredder's slavery. An 'Anti-Shredder Faction' or ASF, as Mikey called it. He and I have been leading it for seventeen years now and we've managed to hold our own against Ol' Tin Skin fairly well. We – "_

_She was cut off by some kind of beeping. Her hand left its perch on my shoulder and I turned to her to see her bring out a walkie-talkie from the inside of the ash gray jacket she wore over a dirty yellow blouse and ragged cargo pants. She then spun away from me and began talking to the person on the other end of the line in a hushed tone. Thanks to my acute sense of hearing, I was able to eavesdrop on her conversation._

"_What is it, Rodriguez?"_

"Ma'am, we've been ambushed by the Foot! Sir Michelangelo led most of them away from here and we're currently dealing with just a handful of them."

"_Do you know where he's headed?"_

"I'm afraid not, Ma'am. But last I saw him, he was dashing towards District 13. There were just too many of those bastards and they're hot on his trail."

"_Near Times Square, huh? Rodriguez, you and your men stay where you are. I'll be there with the medical team and some back-up in fifteen minutes. And as for your commanding officer…"_

_I had heard enough to know that Mikey was in serious trouble. I got up, bowed to my father's grave and silently ran off to the place April and that Rodriguez guy talked of. In need of more speed, I pulled out my skateboard from my duffel bag, hopped on it and rolled off, hoping that I'd get there in time._

_/_

Kami_, New York was so barren. Apartments had crumbled down and though the skyscrapers still stand, they looked like they would topple over any second now. The streets were littered with more rubbish and even dead bodies and I had to force myself from purging the contents of my stomach. There was no sign of life except for the crows feasting on the corpses. The city looked like it had been through an apocalypse._

_Wait, rephrase that for me, would you?_

_A bloodcurdling scream echoed throughout the city, startling the winged carrion-eaters away from their meal. What made it worse was that I knew that scream all too well. Alarmed, I pushed my skateboard forward harder and as I rounded the corner, I froze over._

_Meters away from me, my little brother lay in a pool of HIS BLOOD, his left arm torn off and discarded to _Kami_-knows-where. He was panting and was surrounded by numerous Foot ninja who were armed to the teeth with technology I have only seen in other dimensions and brief trips into future periods. Thinking fast, I abandoned my skateboard, ran towards them and threw a helpful amount of smoke bombs at the pavement they stood on, effectively robbing them of their sight temporarily. Mutely, I came to my injured sibling on the ground._

"_Mikey," I whispered hoarsely, lifting his head up a tad. "Goddamit, Mikey! Wake up!"_

_My orange-masked brother turned his head to me slowly and his glassy, baby blue eyes lighting up a bit when he saw me._

"_D-Donnie? I-Is that you?" He asked me, blood dripping from his mouth and adding to the pool. "Am I…in Heaven already?"_

_I cringed at what he said and looked at the damage his body sustained, only to nearly throw up. There was a lengthy, horizontal cut on his abdomen and from it, oozed his pinkish intestines, glistening with its mucus under the moonlight. His skin was deathly pale from the blood loss and it hit me hard when I knew that I could do nothing to save him._

"_Donnie…" I heard his faint murmur._

_With tears in my eyes, I turned back to him, my heart disintegrating into a million pieces when I saw his familiar smile._

"_G-Glad to see ya a-again, bro… I-I knew you'd c-come back…"_

_And just like that, the cheery flame in his eyes was extinguished and his entire body was motionless. New tears had begun to flow now and I let my inner fire consume my soul. The smoke had cleared and the Foot were aiming their guns and raising their blades at me._

"_Another turtle? I thought there were only three of them left!" One of them stated._

"_Turtle or no turtle, that FREAK is Lord Shredder's enemy," another, perhaps their leader, snapped. "Alright, FREAK! Step away from your fellow mutant's carcass and we'll take you to Lord Shredder!"_

_I saw the reflection in the red puddle I knelt on. I didn't want to believe it was my reflection for staring back at me was a demon, an unholy fire in his eyes and a crazed grin on his face. I stood up as my shoulders began to shake and I laughed a laugh so frigid and hollow. A single thought relayed in my mind._

'You couldn't save your brother…'

_Something in me cracked._

'So now, you can only do one thing…'

_The beast I have restrained in me for so long broke out from its prison._

'Revenge…'

"_REVENGE!"_

_The last thing I saw was crimson._

…

"You killed them…didn't you?" Mikey inquired solemnly.

"In the most terrible ways possible," Donatello replied with a sigh. "Pure rage and instinct took over. No more analytical thinking and logical reasoning. The Foot I slew were either decapitated, degutted, ripped into pieces, mangled, crushed – "

He stopped himself short when he noted the looks of utter horror on their faces.

"Sorry…got carried away there…" He then cleared his throat. "Back to the story…"

…

_When I woke up, I found myself in what seemed to be an infirmary. I sat up from the cot I lay, only to let out a short gasp of pain. I looked down and sure enough, I saw the lower part of my scarred plastron in a good deal of bandages, the right side rather bloodstained._

"_Thank goodness, you're awake!" Someone cried as I felt myself embraced._

_April released her hug on me to let me breathe. However, her smile turned into a frown._

"_Donnie, you're as red as a tomato! Do you have a fever or something?"_

"_Uh…eh…no, I'm fine," I stammered, rubbing the back of my neck sheepishly. "April, where am I?"_

"_You're in ASF's Medical Wing. We saw you passed out in the middle of a circle of dead Foot ninja in District 13. They were all killed savagely and there was blood everywhere. Donnie, don't you dare run off like that ever again!"_

"_Yeah, I promise. And…what about…Mikey?"_

_She looked away from me, biting her lower lip._

"_I had him…buried next to Splinter."_

"_Oh."_

_We spent a few minutes like that in silence, with the exception of the humming of some medical equipment down the hall. I could tell that April was doing her best not to break down right in front of me, rubbing her eyes every now and then._

"_You know, Leo and Raph are here. I've called them over," she finally said, turning back to me. "You wanna see them?"_

_With a smile, I nodded. She got off my cot and gently helped me out. She handed me my bo and Mikey's nunchaku._

"_You were holding on to them when we found you," she simply stated._

_Sadly, I placed my bo on the holster on my back and tucked the nunchaku in my belt, careful not to nudge my wound. Then, I followed April out of the Medical Wing and into a vast, airplane hangar-like area. I gawked at the base's massiveness and at all of the computers and electronics that various people attended to. I heard a chuckle next to me._

"_Come on, genius," April giggled, "I'll show you around later."_

_I was still in a daze so she had to lead me by my arm. What snapped me out my trance was the shouting that got louder and louder as we moved forward._

"_Oh no," the woman gasped, frowning. "They're at it again."_

"_What? Who, Ape?"_

_The shouts were understandable now and I knew I didn't need an answer to know just who their sources were._

"_Raph, you don't just waltz into Foot territory! You can't handle them all by yourself! HEY! LOOK AT ME WHEN I'M TALKING TO YOU!"_

"_OH, WHY DON'T YOU JUST FUCK OFF, LEO?"_

"_HOW DARE YOU, YOU BASTARD!"_

_In the place of relief and joy, I felt anger and frustration. Growling, I yanked my arm away from April and headed towards where THEY were. I pushed through the double doors and came to a halt._

_My two elder brothers stood before me, their appearances had changed. Raph no longer wore his bandanna mask and instead sported an eyepatch over his left eye socket and a black leather jacket. Leo still had his bandanna mask on, though it was longer and quite torn, and wore a dark brown trench coat with the belts holding his katana around his waist. From where I was positioned, I could see that his right leg was supported by some kind of metal brace. Both were covered in scars from head to toe, much like I was._

_And both had their weapons drawn and pointed at each other, reminding me of their fight before I left. Shell, they didn't even seem to notice me for they were yelling at one another again._

"_RAPH, I'VE HAD IT WITH YOUR RASH BEHAVIOUR! YOU LEAVE ME WITH NO OTHER CHOICE!"_

"_WHAT'S THE MATTER, FEARLESS? YOU SCARED TO TEACH YOUR BRO A LESSON?"_

"_YOU'RE REALLY ASKING FOR IT!"_

"_YOU BET I AM! BRING IT!"_

_I didn't give them the chance to lunge for each other's throats, or even blink, for that matter. I came in between them, filled with rage and aggravation. With the chain of Mikey's _kusarigama_, I restrained Leo and pulled him down, stepping on the chain to prevent him from getting back up. Then, I brought my bo down on Raph with all my strength, making him hit the ground belly-down hard. I pinned him down with my free foot on his carapace and held my bo's hidden blade a couple inches from his face._

"YAMERU_!" I roared, my blood boiling. "Thirty years! THIRTY GODDAMN YEARS HAVE PASSED AND YOU _BAKA_ ARE STILL BITING AND RIPPING AT ONE ANOTHER LIKE MAD DOGS!"_

_They were glancing at me with astonished looks on their faces, but I went on._

"_I thought you two would take care of the family without me around. But I was SO STUPID to not see this coming. YOU BOTH NEGLECTED YOUR HONOR AND LEFT OUR BABY BROTHER AND OUR ONLY FRIEND IN THE WORLD TO FEND FOR THEMSELVES! YOU CHOSE TO BE COWARDS AND SKIP OFF TO YOUR OWN WONDERLANDS WHILE EVERYONE ELSE SUFFERED! NOW MIKEY'S AS GOOD AS DEAD AND YOU'RE STILL ARGUING WITH EACH OTHER POINTLESSLY! YOU STILL CALL YOURSELVES 'NINJA' EVEN AFTER YOU'VE FORGOTTEN _OTOUSAN_'S TEACHINGS? YOU STILL THINK OF YOURSELVES AS 'BROTHERS' EVEN AFTER YOU'VE ABANDONED OUR _OTOUTO_? WELL, FUCK YOU! FUCK THE BOTH OF YOU BITCHES!"_

_My outrage left me panting for air. My knees buckled over and I slumped to the floor, dropping my weapons as I began to cry again. I felt warm arms around me and through my tears, I saw April embracing me and holding me like she'd never let me go. Leo and Raph were on their feet now, free, unarmed and keeping their distances away from me. They should be. I would've lashed out at them if they were any closer._

"_Hush now, Donnie," April cooed, rubbing my shell in a slow, circular motion, "your brothers aren't fighting anymore – "_

"_I don't have brothers who leave their family for dead."_

_The atmosphere in the room became tensed when I spat those words out with much venom. April went on stroking my shell as I glared at Raphael and Leonardo acidly, snarling._

"How touching. Am I interrupting a reunion of some sorts?"

_That voice! Snarl now a growl, I turned to the gigantic computer behind me, its wide screen bearing the face of my sworn enemy._

"Ah, so the Prodigal Son has indeed returned," _Shredder remarked, amusement crystal clear in his voice. _"It is nice to see you again, Donatello. Or should I say _Midoriyasha_."

**A/N**

**WOOT WOOT! You go teach Leo and Raph a lesson, Don**_**-san**_**! XDD X3X**

**Japanese Vocab Corner**

"_Yameru!"_** – "Stop it!", but can also mean "Quit it!" or just plain "Cut it out!".**

_Otouto_** – Little brother (Oh, Mikey! D,: DDX *sniffs*).**

"_Midoriyasha"_** – Translates into "Green Demon" (Badass!).**

**I never ever pictured the flashback to be this LONG! O.O**


	11. The Flashback Part 3

**Disclaimer: I do not own TMNT 2012.**

Both Raphael and Leonardo were staring at the disfigured turtle with newfound fear in their eyes. Michelangelo, on the other hand, was trying his best to keep down his laughter when he saw the looks on his elder brothers' faces. April just shook her head.

"What did Shredder want with you, my child?" Splinter asked, sideglancing at his youngest son.

"Apparently," Donatello breathed out, his words laced disturbingly with a hint of delight, "Shredhead wanted to announce a formal declaration of war."

…

"_I find it strange to be happy to see you, Saki," I hissed, glaring at the computer screen, "and what do you mean by '_Midoriyasha_'?"_

"Just a little something I picked up from my subordinates," _Shredder replied, that irritating glee still in his voice. _"They have watched some surveillance videos from earlier today, and were both frightened out their skins and consumed by their anger to see a demon savagely and dishonorably slaying their colleagues. Shall I show it to you?"

_Before I could retort, the screen flashed and the enemy's face was replaced by a horrific video. It was of me from when I tackled the Foot who killed Mikey. But…I had doubts that the mutant turtle in the video was me, for he had blank eyes and was grinning insanely as he slew the armed ninja mercilessly, their blood spraying all over him. The video was stopped and Shredder popped up again._

"I have never seen such bloodlust before in my life. You have proven yourself to be a worthy adversary, _Midoriyasha_."

"_YOU GET YOUR SHITTY ASS DOWN HERE, BASTARD, AND I'LL SHOW YOU WHY YOU NO WANNA FUCKING MESS WITH ME!" I howled, ignoring the stares I knew I was receiving at the moment. "You'll pay for taking Sensei and Mikey away from me. I'll see to it that I personally give you a slow and painful death!"_

"And I look forward to clash blades with you, turtle. But we shall do it on the battlefield."

"_What the shell do you think you're talking about?"_

_He let out a deep chuckle that rattled down my spine._

"I wish to declare a war between our forces. Your makeshift coalition against my battalion of Foot ninja and Kraang. Of course, you battle me. I believe that you will be…a more compelling opponent than the weakling you call your father."

_My imagination got the best of me and Shredder and Sensei's battle played in my mind. I pictured Master Splinter falling at the hands of the enemy, his face contorted in pain and determination burning in his eyes. Before I knew it, I was growling again and this entertained Shredder._

"What do you say, _Midoriyasha_?"

"_If it's _Midoriyasha _you want, then it's _Midoriyasha _you'll get!" I barked, approaching the computer screen. "I'm gonna make ya eat your words, Tin Skin. I accept your challenge!"_

_I heard gasps behind me and I sensed April coming to me, so I raised my hand at her to stop her, not turning away from the screen._

"_No, Donnie! It's too dangerous! We…the whole faction can't stand a war with the entire Foot clan and the Kraang!" She exclaimed._

"_Ape's right! It's no use!" Raph added, the sound of his footsteps shuffling towards me a little. "There's just too many of them and so few of us! Use your brain and make the calculations, genius!"_

"_We've lost a good number of our comrades in the past," it was Leo who reasoned next and placed a hand on my right shoulder, "including our father and our little brother. We don't want to lose you, too, Donnie. Never again."_

_I moved my shoulder sharply, effectively knocking his hand off. Tearing my eyes off the computer screen, I confronted all of them._

"_I've been gone for nearly thirty years," I stated my point as a whisper, but then raised my voice for even my enemy to hear. "You think I'd just sit here and do nothing if that's what I've contributed through my absence? THINK AGAIN! I have learned so much from my travels to change my way of thinking, my way of fighting. I have suffered so many times over, believing blindly that everything here was going fine. This was my mistake and it resulted into the corruption of the world I knew and the deaths of my loved ones. Now…"_

_My hands reached the back of my head and tightened the knot of my bandanna mask._

"…_I'm gonna fix it!"_

"_Donnie…"Raph trailed off, looking at me sadly with his remaining acid green eye._

"Such a noble speech delivered, young one," _Shredder remarked but I didn't turn around. _"As a show of decency, I shall give you and your pathetic group two months to prepare for the war. It is required that you will become opponents worthy of my time."

"_Two months is more than enough," I muttered, walking out of the room and stopping in the doorway as I kept the double doors pushed open. "Bring me to where you store all your equipment, April, and I'll start repairing 'em up. We begin preparing for the war NOW!"_

…

"And prepare we did," Donatello adjoined, smirking somewhat. "We spent the two months loaned to us salvaging and stealing tech from the Foot that patrolled the city, revamping and patching up what weapons we had, training and teaching ASF members how to hold their own in a fight, and so much more. I barely got any sleep or anything decent enough to eat because I did most of the work, including tutoring ASF's scouts and spies some ninjutsu. April was practically in full-out 'Mother Hen Mode' and forced me several times over to get a few hours of well-needed rest."

"And what about…your brothers?" Leonardo asked with much reluctance.

The alt-dimension brainiac turned to the blue-masked turtle with a hint of anger in his burgundy eyes, but that died down as he sighed.

"We…didn't really talk to each other a lot," he admitted, looking at the floor in lament, "and I regret that with all my soul."

"Why?"

Such a simple question, yet so hard to answer. Donatello gazed up from the floor as tears welled up in his eyes.

"They died."

…

_It was in the war, beginning on the noon of October 9, 2042. The ASF and Shredder's forces were even now with all the firepower and artillery I added to our arsenal. The 'Battle of New York', as it was later dubbed, was held in the bare wasteland that was once Central Park._

_Metal collided against metal, shots were fired, explosives were lobbed and detonated. I lost sight of April somewhere in the battle, but I could hear her battle cries and that was enough to assure me of her safety. April was a strong fighter, that I knew._

"_And so we meet, Donatello."_

_The sound of that voice chilled me to my very core. I squashed the Kraang in my hands and as I turned around, Shredder appeared, his steps shaking the ground I stood on. He was covered in shiny armor forged from what I presumed was near-indestructible alloy. There were several tubes spreading from two capsules on his back and were attached to each side of his neck, his chest and waist, his forearms and forelegs, the glowing, electric blue liquid in them probably enhancing his strength and skills. The mask covering the lower half of his face was like a gas mask, except that bulbs containing the same liquid found in the tubes were on either side of his mask instead of air filters._

_Seriously, I would've gladly inspected his armor then and there if it weren't for the dire situation at hand._

"_What's with the get-up, Shredhead?" I questioned, gripping my bo tightly. "Think you've come to a costume party or something?"_

_With a roar of rage, he charged at me at speeds inversely proportional to the weight of his armor. So I must've been right about the liquid. I sidestepped, narrowly dodging his claws as they came out from slits on his forearm plates. A blow on my carapace knocked the air right out my lungs and I stumbled forward. He must have kicked me when he had gone past me. I flipped over on my carapace, just in time to bring up my bo and block his claws' downward slash. His abdomen was exposed so I booted it with all my might, letting out a short yelp of pain when my foot collided with hard metal. Nonetheless, I was able to push him back and I took the opportunity to get back up._

"_Such an amount of scars you have, turtle," he noted as he brought up his right claw. "Is there any more room for me to leave my mark on you?"_

_I grit my teeth and thumped one end of my bo onto the ground, its hidden blade emerging from the other end as I did so. After twirling my weapon, I pointed its blade at my enemy._

"_Why don't you come and try, Shredhead?"_

_He rushed in again and this time, I was dashing forward to meet him. Using my naginata, I pole-vaulted over him, slashing the blade onto his back as I flipped above him. But all the action left was a trail of sparks as metal grinded against metal. I landed and quickly bent back, avoiding the inward thrust of his left claw. With the chain of Mikey's nunchaku, I grappled his outstretched arm and hanged on for dear life as he effortlessly raised it high above his head. I took advantage of gravity and planted a foot into his face and my naginata's blade into his right shoulder as the chain skidded down the armor. Again, my blade didn't penetrate the rigid plating. Letting go of one of the nunchaku's ends, I propelled forward and was back on the dusty earth again, hissing at the sting when the glass shard in my foot embedded itself deeper into my meat. No longer dazed, Shredder turned to me, the bulb on the right side of his mask shattered from my kick and freely leaking the electric blue fluid that was now mixed with a tinge of red. Seeing this, I couldn't help but cringe in disgust._

Kami_, I think those bulbs and tubes are connected to his very body. Gross!_

"_What's the matter, freak?" He snarled, leaning forward menacingly. "Can't handle the sight of what technology has done to me?"_

"_Nah, I can take it," I nonchalantly replied as I suppressed a shiver, "I…just can't believe that the infamous Shredder is into drugs. What a disgusting old man!"_

_I could clearly hear the leather stretch as he clenched his gloved hands into fists. He dove in and I braced myself for his below-the-belt strike with my weapon held in front of me horizontally. However, as he forced down the shaft of my naginata with his right hand, out of nowhere his left arm lashed out at me and I had no other choice but to free my hold on my naginata to jump back. I successfully did so, but a searing sensation on my face constrained me to my knees. Gasping, I felt my face and sure enough, Shredder's claw had made their mark. There was this long, diagonal gash between my eyes that ran down to my right cheek, bleeding profusely, and my right eyelid was torn open, blood and pain clouding my right eye which was thankfully unharmed. My head was throbbing and what was left of my vision was fuzzy. I could only make blurs out of the people and robots who fought all around me. _

"_So it is I who first drew blood," I heard Shredder say, his shiny, unclear form advancing towards me._

_I was kicked down to the ground and his foot was on my plastron, keeping me from getting up. Too much in shock to struggle, I could do nothing but watch with blurred sight as he raised his claw above my neck._

"_I have wasted my time with you. Now…join your father and your brother in the afterlife!"_

_His claw came down, but I didn't feel it tear through my jugular. Instead, I heard a cry and the clangs of blades. The weight on my plastron was lifted and I felt callous hands help me up. My vision finally cleared and I was greeted by a green, eyepatched face._

"_Donnie, you hear me?" Raph's question reached my earholes. "God, your face is bleeding!"_

_No duh, Captain Obvious!_

_As I frowned, my entire face ached and I let out a grunt. I tried to cover my wounds with my right hand, but Raph was faster. He grabbed the bloodied, purple bandanna mask that had been cut and hanging around my neck like an unmade tie, and began to wrap it around my right eye, careful not to tighten its coils too hard. Soon enough, the whole upper right of my face was secured with the heavily bloodstained strip of purple fabric._

"_There!" Raph heaved out as he finished the knot on the back of my head. "Sorry if the dressing's a bit crude. I should've listened to you more before with these kind of things and – "_

_He never got to end his sentence for two blades had gone through his plastron from behind him, right where his heart resided. Blood that was not mine splattered all over my chest and neck as the blades retracted and Raph fell into my arms, limp. In front of me, Shredder stood with an air of triumph around him, his right claw glistening in the afternoon sun with the same red on my body._

"_RAPH! NO!" Leo was a few feet away from the enemy, something in his ocean blue eyes that I have never seen in them before. "SAKI, YOU BASTARD! _SHINE_!"_

_As he clashed with Shredder, I fell to my knees yet again, the jacketed form in my arms. I didn't cry. I just stared at the bleeding holes on Raph's plastron then at his half-open acid green eye._

"_You…you OK, Donnie?" He asked faintly._

_I was mute. I just nodded._

"_Well…that's f-fine with me…" Raph smiled weakly as he pointed at the lengthy scar on my left arm. "S-Sorry…for that, bro…and for n-not being a good elder brother to you…"_

_I finally had the courage to speak, but I was too late. Raphael…my brother…was gone. I…I never got the chance to…forgive him…to tell him – _

_The background was too quiet for my liking, even with the war still going on. Fearfully, I looked up from my brother's corpse…_

…_Just in time to see Shredder cut Leo's head off._

**A/N**

**NOOOOOOOOOOOO! Not Raph and Leo, too! DDDX**

**Japanese Vocab Corner**

"_Shine!"_** – "Die!" (pronounced as "shi-ne", not "shine" as in with a light).**

**And here comes **_**Midoriyasha**_**!**


	12. The Flashback Part 4

**Disclaimer: I do not own TMNT 2012.**

Leonardo unconsciously rubbed his throat while Raphael placed a hand on his chest. Both were as good as spooked. But you can't blame them.

Their alternate-dimension counterparts had suffered brutal deaths.

Michelangelo sniggered but then laughed out loud, the restrain on his amusement breached. Shell, even April had to cover her mouth to hide a giggle. Growling, Raph smacked the back of his baby brother's head, earning a yelp and a scowl.

"Raphael, Michelangelo. Please," Master Splinter suddenly beseeched as he stood up from the couch. "Donatello…is reliving experiences that never should have been tampered again."

At that, all eyes fell to the disfigured turtle on the center of the living room floor. He had his knees pulled up to his chest, his face buried in his thighs as he sobbed silently. Leo, in both worry and sympathy for the brainiac, sat by his side and soothingly wrapped his arms around him, going into Big Brother Mode. Donatello looked up at him instantly, watery, burgundy eyes wide with both surprise and embarrassment.

"Hey, if you can't take it anymore, we'll stop right here, right now," the blue-masked turtle reassured, smiling softly. "We won't force you if it hurts to tell."

Nodding in agreement, Raph and Mikey also settled on the floor in front of the alt-dimension brainiac while April sat by his other side, placing a hand on his shoulder. Splinter stood behind him, but the expression he wore was like those of his pupils', tender and caring. Donatello blushed a bright shade of scarlet as Leo eased his embrace around him.

"Wow…" He whistled, rubbing the back of his head. "You _gaki _sure know how to warm a guy like me up. Thanks."

"Don't mention it, genius," Raph said with a small, out-of-character grin. "We…should've known that you had gone through those kinds of things. We should've been more understanding instead of being judgmental."

Everyone looked at him with surprise slapped on their faces. The hothead recoiled slightly as if he had been punched in the gut.

"What? Can't I have this sort of moments every once in a while?"

Donatello chuckled a genuine chuckle and his lips pursed into a true smile. Now, he actually looked like a teenager despite his scars and not the mature, grouchy turtle he had always acted. Yet his smile immediately fell and he was serious once more.

"No, I must go on," he half-sighed, closing his eyes and everybody noticed, for the first time, the dark green mark on his right eyelid. "You all have the right to know. I've been lying to you guys too much and for so long."

The sense of worry for him was clear in the ambience. Nonetheless, his audience reluctantly nodded.

…

_Blood. It was everywhere._

_On the people around me who had fallen in battle…Tainting and carpeting the bare, brown ground…On my brother in red's chest, leaking from two wide holes…Spurting from my brother in blue's severed head that lay not far from me…Covering most of my body and staining my purple bandanna-bandage…_

_In my mind and my heart and my soul. I have never seen so much of the crimson fluid before in my life._

"_Three down, one more to go," a deep voice echoed through the blankness my mind was submerged in. "You turtles are the bane of my existence. Once I get rid of you, nothing and no one else would dare to stand in my way. Ever again!"_

_Inside, I was empty, floating in a jet black void. But then, I felt white-hot heat course throughout my frame. It wasn't pain nor was it guilt or sadness. It was sheer anger. Pure, unadulterated fury. I let it blaze fiercely, burning away at my core and igniting every inch of me with corrupted power._

_I rose to my feet and dashed past Shredder, leaning a bit to my right to avoid his incoming claw. Behind him, I came to a skidding halt in front of my eldest brother's headless body and without a second thought, grabbed one of the discarded katana near it. In my right hand, I gripped my brothers' sai and katana, the forked blade pointing skyward while the sword was positioned with its tip to the ground. Mikey's lone nunchaku was in my left hand, spinning rapidly and menacingly. I had clutched the shaft of my naginata with my teeth, my chompers digging into the wood._

_This was my first official take on the _hijutsu _I had learned from my trip to Japan._

"_Impressive," Shredder commended, turning to me, "but you don't have what it takes to bring me down. Your brothers have tried vainly many times over to do so and failed miserably. Do you seriously think you can turn the tables on me, _Midoriyasha_?"_

_I didn't answer. Internally, I was meditating to restrain my inner demon, to not let it take control of me. I knew well that if I let it go, I would go into a bloodlust-fueled frenzy and even slaughter what was left of my allies. I would go on a killing spree and not stop until I had exhausted the living out of me. And I would do all of this with blank eyes and a crazed grin._

_But if looks could kill, Shredder would've melted into a puddle of gooey flesh under my one-eyed glare._

_Without warning, I struck. I didn't actually know how or what moves I used. I was too busy struggling to contain my inner demon and had allowed anger and instinct to decide how I fought. I was there physically, but internally I was holding down the monster I didn't want to set free. And I was falling short of it._

_The beast inside me was a mindless, bloodthirsty entity whose strength was none like any other in this world. It lived in the recesses of my subconscious, pulling at the chains I had created to keep it back. My interdimensional journey had been stressful, twisting me in the most terrible ways possible. And from this, the beast was born, emerging from the primordial ooze with a vengeance and unrivaled temper._

_Right now, I was spiritually face-to-face with it. It was massive, looking much like a muscular dinosaur-turtle hybrid with a short, thick tail and a rather spiky shell. Hungrily, it licked the edges of its long jaws with a lengthy, dark red tongue._

'**Release me.'**

_Despite it being senseless, it had the power to communicate with me. It taunted me for being so weak, laughed at me for being a pacifist. It would influence me every now and then when anger nipped at the back of my mind, telling me to let him handle the stress when I felt like I would give in._

'**Release me,' **_it repeated, its voice too deep and too feral for my liking,_** 'and I will kill Oroku Saki for you…and for your loved ones.'**

_Now that was unexpected. Why would it do something for me AND for my family?_

'**Have you not heard of vengeance, Donatello?'**

'I have, but it is not the road my father had taught me to traverse. Revenge is nobody's game.'

'**But where is your father now? And what of your brothers? They are gone and you are the last of your kind. Is it not justice that Oroku Saki must die by our hands? By the hands of the beings he himself eradicated?'**

'I am not you, Demon. I am educated in the ways that would bring peace without bloodshed. And I will use these ways to end the crisis at hand.'

_It laughed deeply and forebodingly, the chain around its neck rattling._

'**And have these ways brought you peace? Have they satisfied you? Have they filled your empty cup?'**

_I was unsure with what I was going to say to that. I bowed my head, tearing my gaze away from its glowing, crimson eyes. I couldn't answer back._

'**I have made my point, have I not?' **_the Demon questioned, strangely sounding intelligent all of a sudden. _**'You are clearly unpleased. You wish to draw blood, but could not because you do not have the stomach for it. Ah! So you are a coward!'**

'I am not!' _I finally growled back, glaring back into the crimson void that was its eyes._

'**Then what are you waiting for? Release me! You and I both crave the human's blood, to have it spray all over us and stain our body! Is it not your wish to do so? To avenge our family's sufferings and deaths? To restore the honor we have all lost?'**

_I remembered it all. Sensei's grave…Mikey lying in a pool of his blood…Raph dying in my arms…Leo's severed head rolling towards me…the lost look in April's sky blue eyes that wouldn't go away, even when she would laugh…I felt a flurry of grief, guilt, anger and loathing strike my very core, leaving fresh wounds and reopening old scars._

_But, no! If justice is to be carried out, I myself would do it, not my Demon. Never the Demon!_

'_Iie. Watashi wa Shredder no shinigami_*_,_' _I spoke through my mother tongue and I'm sure I must have caught the Demon off-guard. _'I'll be the one who will kill Oroku Saki, not you. They are not your family and for the monster that you are, you will never gain honor. You slay because you want to, because you see pleasure in gore and bloodshed. I slay because I HAVE to, because I know that MY family's integrity should be regained. Shredder shall die by the hands of impartiality, not by the hands of bloodlust.'

_I saw its face twitch slightly before it roared out in what I could tell was rage. The Demon then began tugging at its shackles violently again, the iron somehow fortified as my resolve was._

'**YOU CANNOT DO IT! YOU ARE A COWARD!' **_The Demon bellowed as its chains dragged it back into the darkness. _**'RELEASE ME! RELEASE ME!'**

_I felt my lips purse into a smirk._

'Farewell, Demon. You are no longer a hindrance to me.'

'**THIS IS NOT THE LAST WE MEET, DONATELLO! I SWEAR I WILL BREAK FREE FROM MY BONDS! I WILL RETURN!'**

_Before I knew it, I had returned to the world of the living from my inner conflict. Pain coursed through every molecule of my body but I forced myself to my feet. The Battle of New York was still thundering around me though the number of its participants seemed to have diminished. Limping, I picked up my weapons and was about to leave the scene when I heard a groan somewhere near me. I whipped my head to where I deduced it had come from, only to feel anger burn in me again._

_A few feet from where I had lain was my sworn enemy Shredder, probably half-dead. My clash with him must have been so intense that most of his armor had been stripped off and the tubes that were once attached to his body had been ripped from their lodgings, the fluid leaking from them electric blue hinted with vital red. His very mask was missing, leaving his aged face exposed for all to see. His gaunt cheeks each housed a Ping-Pong ball-sized hole, glass shards sticking out from each gap, most likely the remains of the bulbs containing more of the alien stimulant-like substance. At this observation, I had to resist the urge to purge whatever meal I had eaten before the war._

_In moments like this one, I just HATE IT when my hypotheses are right._

_But disgust aside and quickly forgotten, I hobbled towards him, my and my deceased brothers' weapons in my blood-slicked grip. He must have been too exhausted since he did nothing but stare at me with glassy, mismatched eyes._

"Jigoku_," I merely uttered as I arrived at his side, "that's where I'll send ya, Saki, and where you'll burn for the rest of eternity for slaughtering _Otousan_…_Otouto_…_Oniisan_…"_

_I plunged Leo's katana into his right knee, effectively shattering the patella and severing the hamstring. My anger wasn't quenched even the slightest when I heard his agonized scream. _

"_That is for Leonardo."_

_I fell to my knees by the left of his head. With Raph's sai, I made my mark on his face, slashing slowly yet deeply on his left eye. The forked blade vibrated off his bodily tremors._

"_This is for Raphael."_

_Using the chain of Mikey's nunchaku, I trapped his left elbow in a joint lock. Clamping together both ends of the nunchaku, I twisted the chain, crushing his elbow until his left forearm popped out from the hinge joint's ligaments and only cords of muscle attached it to the rest of his arm._

"_This is for Michelangelo."_

_I reached the large glass shard in my foot and pulled it out, not caring if I had already lost much blood. I examined it first before spearing it into Shredder's abdomen, twisting the shard painfully. Too tired to yell, he only grunted._

"_This is for Father."_

_With my naginata in my hands, I raised it above his head, my arm muscles shouting in protest which I outright ignored._

"_And this…is for fucking with my life."_

_I brought down the blade, what was left of my strength ebbing out of me. I heard the unmistakable crunch of bone as my naginata impaled his skull, killing him instantly. But it wasn't enough. I wrenched out my weapon, then thrust it in again. I redid this several times over, grey matter spattering on my arms and torso as I reduced Shredder's head into an unrecognizable mound of mush. Minutes later, I stopped, panting and leaning heavily against the shaft of my naginata which I left imbedded. Nonetheless, I let a smile grace my features. _

_I had finally avenged the death of my family._

"Bakemono! Kore wa bakemono korosu _Shredder_-sama!**_" _

_I swiftly turned around, my world spinning wildly as I did so. When my sight stabled, I was greeted by a drove of black-and-silver figures. I was surrounded by the teched-out Foot ninja!_

"Bakemono ja nai***!_" A voice among them countered the first exclamation. "_Yasha da! Midoriyasha!****_"_

_Their fear of me was as clear as day, as if they were staring at the Devil himself. Yet I also sensed the intangible heat that was their anger as they armed their energy rifles. What's more, several of the Kraang controlling massive battle-grade robots joined the fray. Against my body's disapproval and wanting to rest, I stood on shaky feet, my artillery in my hands again. Wiping away the trickle of blood from the corner of my mouth with the back of my arm, I shifted into a battle stance._

"_Whatcha _ahondura _waiting for? You terrified to go at me?" I spat out, my lips tugging into a smirk. "Let's dance, ladies!"_

_With a battle cry and newfound strength, I lunged forward._

… … …

"I…I'm sorry for…the way I acted," Donatello quietly apologized, sighing heavily, "I was buried too deep in my anger that I didn't just let it all go. Instead, I became a being as terrible as my Demon. I didn't think things through and let my rage get the best of me."

"Dude, that's all in the past," Michelangelo waved off, restraining his shivers. "At least Shredder won't be a problem to your dimension's April anymore."

"Donatello, vengeance was truly uncalled for," came Splinter's stern reminder, "and your anger…I expected you to be more rational than that."

The alt-dimension brainiac bowed his head submissively with his eyes closed, prepared for the old rat's lecture. Around him, Leo, Raph, Mikey and April huddled closer, as if to defend him from the impending verbal barrage. However, Splinter just sighed and rested a hand on the disfigured turtle's head.

"Yet you have proven yourself master of your inner demon and have controlled it. For that, I am proud of you, my son."

Donatello looked up, warmed by the smile Splinter greeted him with.

"Thank you, _Otousan_," he whispered then turned back to his other companions. "Ready for the big conclusion?"

… … …

_The Battle of New York ended by the time the sun had set. April had found me passed out and near death on top of a heap of Foot ninja bodies and Kraang mush. The gravity of the injuries I had sustained left me unconscious and mummified in bandages for three days. April and the remaining ASF had thought that I would never wake up again._

_A couple of weeks later, I stood in front of the willow tree. It was no longer surrounded by mountains of trash since April, now New York City's newest mayor, had the place renovated into a park. I was still in a considerable length of gauze when I left the base, but along the way, I removed them, letting the cool breeze chill my scarred, scaly skin. The only bandages I hadn't touched were the ones that covered the still sore upper right of my face, a new purple bandanna mask tied loosely around my neck._

_Solemnly, I pushed through the tree's leafy curtain, my one-eyed gaze resting upon the four graves beyond the natural blinds. I recognized my Father's grave among them. To its right were three other tombstones. Each had a bandanna mask tied around it, the first one's bandanna was orange, the next was red and the last one's was blue._

"_Hey there, guys," I mumbled, smiling sadly, "guess you're all having a great time up there, huh?"_

_I set down my duffel bag and pulled out from it a lighter and a pack of incense sticks. I then lighted the sticks, placed three each in four small jars and set a jar in front of each tombstone. As the strong, commanding aroma of the incense sticks filled the air in gentle wisps, I bowed down deeply, paying my respect to my deceased family._

"Arigatou gozaimasu, minna-san,*****_" I spoke softly to the wind, hoping that it would carry my message to my late loved ones, "for caring for and for loving me, for believing in and for being always there for me…you shall forever be in my memory. I will love all of you, for all eternity, in this life and the next."_

_I stood up straight and patted Mikey's tombstone._

"_Wait for me, will you? And save me a spot up there."_

_Swinging my bag over my right shoulder, I activated the TSJ now in my hands, once again ripping a hole through the plane of time and space. Knowing that April will be a great leader to the newly-liberated people of NYC, and maybe even the whole world, I had nothing to worry about. I can freely proceed to a plan I had in mind: To make sure that there will never be another Shredder in all of existence, and to avenge not only my family, but also every other mutant ninja turtle and rat in every dimension. I call it 'Operation X'._

_I finally stepped through the portal, leaving behind my home and all I have ever come to appreciate behind, never to return again._

**A/N**

**UWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH! I'M SO, SO VERY SORRY TO KEEP YOU FOLKS HANGING! *bows down again and again, forehead hitting the ground several times over with loud thuds***

**I've been a busy person these past weeks since my last update. My school's JS Prom is this Friday and I've got a whole lot of work to do since I'm one of the emcees for the coming event. Wish me luck! :)**

**In case any of you are wondering, then yes, alt-dimension Donnie's Demon was based from Gamera Don in "Adventures Of Turtle-Sitting" and "Good Genes Part 1 and 2" of the 2003-2009 series. Seriously, it was so BADASS! **

**Japanese Vocab Corner**

_* _**- "No. I am Shredder's Grim Reaper."**

_Jigoku_** – Hell**

_Oniisan_** – Big Brother (in this case, it's plural since Donnie's referring to both Raph and Leo)**

_**_** - "Monster! This monster killed Lord Shredder!"**

_***_** - "It's not a monster!"**

_****_** - "It's a demon! Green Demon!"**

_*****_** - "Thank you so much, everyone."**

**Finally, the flashback's as good as done! ^^**


	13. New Brother, New Enemy

**Disclaimer: I do not own TMNT 2012.**

It had been a week since Donatello's revelation. From what we had heard from him, we learned to understand him more with his sense of maturity. My brothers and I did our best to be patient with him, listening to him whenever he seemed bothered or uneasy. Mikey made sure that Donatello had something to smile and laugh about often so that he would let go of his sad memories. Shell, even Raph would go to the genius to learn how to perform the _hijutsu_, proving that he can be a tolerant and determined student and that he acknowledges Donatello's skills and experience in a good way.

Sensei was also there to help. He would invite Donatello to meditate with him, a practice to clear one's mind of troubled thoughts. What's more, he had volunteered to spar with Donatello every once in a while since he knew and can keep up with the level of ninjutsu the genius was capable of. Of course, April didn't want to be left out. She was the one who would talk with Donatello about scientific and technical subjects and would offer a hand in some of his projects. She had been delighted when he had shown her how his TSJ actually works.

As a response to our efforts, Donatello had opened up more, sharing his knowledge and expertise with us. He had eventually become less and less bad-tempered and in turn, was more thoughtful and gentler. He had participated more as team member, providing us with useful gadgets and helping me formulate battle strategies. But most importantly, he had learned to accept us as his new family, showing care and affection towards all of us and actually turning into an elder brother figure for me and my siblings. Especially for me.

Yet his outburst about me taking all the blame was still existent in my mind. It played over and over again like a scratched-up phonograph. I wanted to ask him about it in private, about what it truly meant, but I couldn't since I never had the chance to.

Until now, that is.

I was watching him from behind a water tank as he sat on the edge of the rooftop, his feet dangling over the edge. I had followed him here when I saw him sneak out of the lair with something in hand. Now that I observed him closely, he seemed to be drinking from whatever he had brought with him as he looked up at the full moon in the night sky above.

"Leo, you know it's cold out during autumn nights. Wanna sit right next to me for warmth?"

His invitation caught me off-guard. Seriously, I had made sure that I had trailed after him silently, like a creeping ghost. After all, I AM a ninja. I'm not supposed to make my presence known to my target. This just proves Donatello's skill superiority over mine.

Defeated, I jumped down from where I hid and approached him. This gave me the opportunity to see him clearly and I gasped at what I saw in his left hand.

"_Sakazuki_?" I breathed out, meeting his relaxed burgundy gaze with my surprised ocean blue one. "You…you drink _sake_?"

"Oi, I'm old enough for it already," he replied, chuckling. "Adding up all of the time I spent travelling and staying in different dimensions, excluding null-rifts since there's no time there, I can claim that I am approximately eighteen years of age. A minor."

I sat right beside him, still gaping at him.

"Besides, I'm not like some humans with alcoholic beverages," he added, "I don't just guzzle down all of the _sake _at once. I'd like to take my time and think while I appreciate its taste and soothing effects. Also, I have a high tolerance for alcohol."

To emphasize his point, he brought the jet black _sakazuki _to his lips and sipped its contents a little, sighing in a satisfied manner afterwards. There was a moment of silence between us as he turned to the moon again, taking in some _sake _every once in a while sparingly. Rubbing the back of my neck, I forced the words out of my throat.

"I have a question to ask – "

"Ask away, Fearless," came his nonchalant answer.

I inhaled, then exhaled, calming myself down.

"I…still remember what you said to me that night, before you saved us from the Kraang and all. What did you mean by 'stop claiming that you caused this shit when someone else did'?"

I saw the hint of red on his cheeks and I doubt it was from the alcohol. He coughed, clearing his throat, before turning to me.

"So you still kept that in mind, huh?" He inquired and I nodded. "Well…back in my dimension, when I returned there thirty years later, I…blamed my Leonardo about everything. I told – no – yelled at him that Shredder's supremacy, the world's corruption, my family's disbandment and Sensei's and Mikey's deaths were his entire fault. 'Cause he wasn't a good leader, I said. 'Cause he was a pathetic excuse for a ninja, I spat out. And he took all of it, everything I had accused him for, to heart."

Another eye-opener from Donatello. I felt my eyes widen twice in size again.

"I was too angry, too stressed out, too sad, too…too much of everything," he continued, unshed tears glistening under the moonlight. "I shouldn't have said that. That shouldn't be what he should have heard from me. That was the last time we ever spoke to each other again, before…he was killed."

He set his _sakazuki_ down to his left rather forcefully, the _sake _spilling a bit.

"_Kami_, I'm such an asshole! What kind of a brother am I? I should've forgiven him and Raph for what they had done, when they were still around. They were the only family I had left, but I pushed them away, consumed by my thirst for vengeance. I…I…I shouldn't have gone in the first place! My family had just fallen apart because of my absence. That's the exact opposite of what I wanted! Shell, it's even worse! GODDAMNED WORSE!"

With his head bent down, he punched the area on his right vehemently several times over, the concrete cracking from the abuse. Since I was next to him, I grabbed his wrist, stopping his fist from hitting the rooftop. It took all of my strength to just keep his fist in midair.

"Settle down, Donatello. Settle down," I soothed, barely hiding the panic in my voice.

His whole body was trembling as he sobbed quietly, his shoulders convulsing up and down. I scooted closer to him, minding the fissured concrete, with his now open hand in mine. I noted that his knuckles were swollen and bleeding a little, probably half-broken from all the punching. At this, I frowned.

"Hang on," I stated quietly, reaching into my belt.

Sure enough, I found what I was looking for and pulled out the roll of gauze. Immediately, I began to dress his hand, wrapping the bandage around his knuckles to halfway down his palm. I then tied it in place when I was finished and put away what remained of the roll. Donatello was still crying.

"Hey, you were asking what kind of a brother you are, right? I'll answer that question, in behalf of Raph and Mikey. You are a good brother to all of us. Sure, you were a jerk to your real brothers, but to us, you're first-class, compassionate and always there to help. You're the ideal brother to us, though you have some temper and geek issues to deal with. Plus, you have a new family to take care of now – Me, Mikey, Raph, Master Splinter and even April."

I leaned against him, resting my head on his right shoulder.

"And you're the best _Oniisan_ I ever had, Donnie."

His body shuddered again, but this time, it was because of a hearty chuckle that was music to my earholes. He placed his bandaged hand on my head. I pictured the warm smile he wore as he whispered to me.

"I'm the only _Oniisan_ you'll ever have, _gaki_. Yet for that, I'm thankful. _Arigatou gozaimasu_, all of you, for being my family."

/

"What the shell are we doing here in the dojo, Sensei?" Raphael asked, sighing jadedly. "I thought that we had already finished our exercises!"

"No offense, Sensei, but I agree with Raph," Leonardo admitted as he shifted into a cross-legged sitting position.

"Yeah," Michelangelo agreed, slumping forward with his elbows on his knees. "And where's Donnie, anyway?"

Splinter stroked his beard in amusement as his sons now took notice of their eldest brother's absence. As if on cue, the door slid open and in came Donatello with ALL of his weapons in his arms.

"_Gomen nasai_, Sensei, for being late," he apologized as he set down his weapons, their clangs and tings echoing throughout the dojo as they met the _tatami_. "I had a pretty hard time gathering all of these bad boys up. Had to make sure they were cleaned and ready to use, too."

The old rat nodded in acknowledgement then turned back to the other three turtles sitting on the _tatami_. As expected, they were gawking at the array of arsenal before them.

"I will be busy in training Miss O'Neil the ways of a kunoichi," he informed, his lips tugged into a sly smile, "so from now on, Donatello here will be the one who will guide you with your exercises."

The three younger mutants' lower jaws dropped to the _tatami _in disbelief.

"I am truly honored, Sensei," Donatello said with a deep bow. "I shall mold my brothers into better ninja. You have my word on that."

He then stood up straight and gazed at his shocked and speechless siblings, a nasty smirk gracing his features.

"In the dojo," the brainiac began, still smirking, "you will address me as your _Senpai_. You _gaki _got that?"

Leo, Raph and Mikey had the same thought in mind as they watched him twirl his bo, surrounded with a radiant atmosphere of smugness.

_Oh shell._

/

"YOU TWO ARE FAILURES!" Shredder roared.

Before him, Chris Bradford and Xever kept their heads bowed down as they knelt in front of him. Infuriated, the armor-clad tyrant paced back and forth in front of them.

"WHY IS IT THAT YOU IDIOTS CANNOT PUT A STOP TO THOSE TURTLES?"

A gruff chuckle pierced through the tensed moment, before Shredder's disciples could even voice their reasons.

"Let me handle your enemies this time, Shredder_-sama_," offered a figure who stood in the far dark corner of the room, his white, emotionless eyes the only part of him visible. "I shall make sure that Hamato Yoshi's pupils will never live long enough to meet adulthood."

Shredder turned to the mysterious persona. The figure then stepped into the dim light, revealing himself to be a tall, mutant turtle dressed in heavy, full-body armor. He wore an ebony bandanna mask and what was exposed of his olive green skin was pelted with deformities from burns and scorches.

"Ah yes, I haven't known you were there, _Kagekiri_," Shredder said, the rage in his voice disappearing and replaced with pride. "You truly are my finest student."

The man then came to the mutant and placed a gloved hand on his shoulder.

"Very well. I shall pass onto you the responsibility to destroy our enemies. Make me proud, my son."

As a response, _Kagekiri _grinned, uncovering the gap among his pearl white teeth.

**A/N**

**A quick update right before the Prom! ^^**

**Guess you're all wondering who this **_**Kagekiri **_**guy really is, huh? Well, I know some of you know who he is, but I also know that you WANT TO KNOW how and why he's here when he's supposed to be dead, right? XP XDDDD**

**This chapter ends the mark of Part One for **_**Good Ol' Days**_**. The next chapters, basically Part Two, will be all about the turtles' fight against their newest enemy, which will be especially hard once they find out about his identity. O.o**

**Yes, there will be more action in Part Two.**

**And sadly, this will be the last chapter to contain the Japanese Vocab Corner. It will be replaced by what I will call Responses To Reviews, or R2R for short. Practically, it will be my answers to each of your comments, so if you have any questions about me or **_**Good Ol' Days**_**, except those regarding about future events in my Fanfic, better post 'em with your reviews! :D**

**I've been thinking about this Fanfic's theme song/s or something like that and I've come up with three:.**

_**Good Ol' Days **_**by The Script for Part One.**

_**Dead Man Walking **_**also by the Script for Part Two.**

_**Alones **_**by Aqua Timez (AKA Bleach anime Opening 6) for the whole Fanfic. I chose it because of its tune and the meaning of its lyrics, though it's J-Pop so it's in Japanese. ^^lll**

**For anyone interested in the third song, here's the link for YouTube:** ** watch?v=kC-TVF9UUuY**

**Japanese Vocab Corner**

_Sakazuki_** – A nearly flat, bowl-like cup for holding **_**sake**_

_Sake_** – Japanese rice wine**

"_Gomen nasai"_** – "I'm sorry" or "I apologize"**

_Senpai _**– Upper classman, or, in Japan, what you call someone of higher rank than yours.**

_-sama_** – A Japanese title equivalent to the English "Lord" or "Lady", depending on the gender**

_Kagekiri_** – Translates into "Shadow Cutter"**

**Longest A/N yet! :O**


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